Biostatistics, epidemiology and vital statistics: an investigation of the difficulty of courses undertaken by medical students in Raipur, India

Abstract

Background
Biostatistics, epidemiology, and vital statistics are an essential part of evidence-based medicine. They are used to generate results and analyze collected data. They are considered to be an important component of research study design for medical professionals. Medical students need to be able to understand such evidence and how it is presented in the literature, as well as be able to make decisions about patient care based on this. Past studies have noted that students find biostatistics difficult when compared with other components of the community medicine module, including epidemiology and vital statistics. The aim of this study was to assess how difficult students find biostatistics, epidemiology and vital statistics, assessing each topic individually and overall, as all three are taught to medical students under the community medicine module in medical schools. Secondly, we assessed if there was any difference in difficulty based on gender.