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Biostatistics and Epidemiology

Epidemiology is the study of health conditions, such as injury, within a specific population. Biostatistics is the application of statistical methods to medical problems. Together, these two disciplines form the cornerstone of our work to identify the nature and magnitude of specific injury problems, along with the causes and consequences of injury.

At the Center, University of Pennsylvania faculty members in both disciplines serve as team members on every initiative. Their efforts ensure that our methods are scientifically sound and have resulted in the Center’s research being accepted to top medical journals like JAMA, Pediatrics and Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. In addition, our research supports the work of federal agencies like the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.

The work of our epidemiologists focuses on identifying populations that are at particularly high risk for injury, and to determine environmental or social causes underlying these risks. Identifying these populations is the key to seeing an improvement in injury rates: this research informs our outreach and education staff as to which audiences will benefit the most from their efforts.

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Epidemiology and Biostatistics in our Programs and Networks

• Partners for Child Passenger Safety (PCPS)

  The PCPS project is a unique academic/industry research collaboration between The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania and State Farm Insurance Companies. From its inception in 1997, PCPS has developed into the largest child-focused motor vehicle crash surveillance system in the world. Analyses of surveillance data from this project are organized around several “themes” of research that are conducted simultaneously. Surveillance data analyses have been used to identify child, driver, vehicle, crash, and restraint system risk factors for injury, as well as provide estimates for the use and effectiveness of child restraints. Of particular relevance to the medical community, the PCPS surveillance system has been used to highlight the importance of obtaining crash circumstance information in the initial medical history, as well as the importance of specific physical examination findings in guiding the diagnostic evaluation of children following crashes. In addition, PCPS has identified patterns of health care service utilization by children following crashes.Findings such as these have been used to create targeted outreach campaigns and have led to improved vehicle and restraint designs that reduce head injury risk from side-impact collisions; and are responsible for a significant increase in booster seat use among 4- to 8- year olds since the study began in 1997.

• NHTSA Task Order 1: Identifying Interventions that Promote Child Restraint Use

  Through research funded by the National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA), Center researchers documented factors that affected the intention to use belt-positioning booster seats for parents of children ages 4-8 years. At the start of the research in 2000, nearly all US families were at-risk for premature graduation of children to from car seats to seat belts. Today, booster seat use in the US has increased significantly, and researchers are seeking to develop interventions that target remaining at-risk populations.

• NHTSA Task Order 2: Anton’s Law: Safety Definition

  The objective of Task Order Two was to assist NHTSA in achieving the requirements laid out by Anton’s Law [embedded link] passed in 2003 to improve federal standards and performance requirements for booster seats for children between the ages of 4 and 8. In order to achieve this objective, NHTSA contracted Center researchers with four specific research objectives:

  • Identify Injury/Fatality Patterns for Children Weighing more than 50 Pounds
  • Development of Anthropomorphic Test Device (ATD) Simulating a 10-Year-Old Child Study Sample
  • Lap/Shoulder Belts in the Center Rear: Occupancy Patterns, Use Patterns, and Performance
  • Built-in Child Restraint Systems: Use Patterns and Performance

• Youthful Driver Research Initiative (YDRI)

  Over the next ten years, if crash fatalities continue as projected, 100,000 adolescents and young adults in the U.S. will die in young-driver crashes (drivers between the ages of 15 and 24 years). This fact is driving researchers at the Center for Injury Research and Prevention to investigate effective ways to reduce the public health burden of teen driver crashes. In Fall 2005, Children’s Hospital, The University of Pennsylvania, and State Farm, the academic/industry partnership that leads the PCPS study, convened some of the world’s leading experts on teens, driving and teen driving. This expert panel took an interdisciplinary approach, combining both driving-specific research expertise with expertise in the fields of behavioral science, engineering, education, epidemiology, licensing, social marketing, and public health to characterize the epidemic of teen driver-related crash and injury risk and set the agenda for action.

• Center for Child Injury Prevention Studies (CChIPS)

  This National Science Foundation (NSF) Industry/University Cooperative Research Center is a consortium of companies and federal agencies working with university faculty and students to conduct industry relevant research in an emerging field- in this case, childhood injury prevention. Biostatistical and Epidemiological research methods factor into the wide range of CChIPS projects. One particular project that relies heavily on population-based statistical analysis is the validation of the National Advance Driving Simulator (NADS) Project as a reliable method of assessing teens’ actual driving skills and habits on the road. If NADS is determined to be a valid method of reproducing young drivers’ real-world experience, then researchers will be able to use the simulator to compare differences in driving performance and risk-taking behaviors among newly licensed teens and thereby inform scientifically-based interventions to reduce young drivers’ crash risk.

• Child and Adolescent Reactions to Injury and Trauma (CARIT)

  Through a number of related studies, the Child and Adolescent Reactions to Injury and Trauma (CARIT) Research Program is examining the range of responses that children and their parents experience after pediatric injury. Biostatisticians and epidemiologists on this project help the research team to accurately quantify the prevalence of acute and longer-term post-traumatic distress in injured children and their parents and to create valid measures for acute stress symptoms in children and youth. As a result of these quantitative analyses, researchers are now also developing screening tools and intervention methods to promote emotional recovery — and are creating models for integrating them into medical care after pediatric injury.

• Crash Injury Research and Engineering Network (CIREN)

  In 2005, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia was invited to join a national network of eight hospitals designated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) as the Crash Injury Research and Engineering Network (CIREN). CIREN's mission is to improve the prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of motor vehicle crash injuries to reduce deaths, disabilities, and human and economic costs through the study of real-world cases of serious injuries sustained in car crashes. A multi-disciplinary team from across the Center and Children’s Hospital meets monthly to evaluate the crash data from many perspectives, in order to determine what causes or prevents pediatric injury in serious crashes.