**This is the Original Document that was translated into Lithuanian**

EpiInfo2000 Guided Tour

Taking the Guided Tour

This chapter provides step-by-step instructions for exercising the main features of each program. If you are reading from the screen, you may find it convenient to print the instructions using the PRINT command on the FILE menu of your browser or word processor. On a large screen, it is also possible to keep the instructions open in one window and work with Epi Info elsewhere on the same screen.

Guided Tour of the Epi Info 2000 Menu

Highlights:

· Configurable features of the main menu

· Example of an entirely different menu constructed by copying, renaming, and editing the Epi2000.MNU file.

· Brief look at an MNU file

The screen image for the main menu of Epi Info 2000 is John Snow's famous map of the location of cholera cases surrounding the Broad Street pump in London in 1846. Artistic license has been taken in representing cases near the pump as vertical solids rather than with Dr. Snow's neat tick marks.

The main programs of Epi Info can be accessed either through the PROGRAMS menu or by clicking on the buttons. The buttons can be turned on or off with the BUTTONS item on the SETTINGS menu. The Guided Tour is part of the Epi Info 2000 manual and help-file system represented on the MANUAL menu. Several exercises for learning epidemiology and computing are found on the TUTORIALS menu.

On the EXAMPLES menu, choose SURVEILLANCE MENU. A second menu appears with different menus, background picture, and screen text. This is the beginning of a Surveillance system to be developed in Epi Info 2000, but most of the entries on this menu are not yet active. The menu is presented to show how easy it is to customize the menu and use it for your own programs. Close the Surveillance menu by choosing EXIT from the ENTER DATA menu.

To gain confidence and to see that your system is functioning well, you might click on each of the buttons on the main menu and briefly examine the program that appears. Exit from each one by clicking an Exit button, the small “x” box in the upper right corner, or EXIT in the FILE menu. We will visit each program again in more detail, as described below.

If you are interested in the details of the files behind the menu, use the word processor and OPEN the files EPI2000.MNU and SURVEIL.MNU. Note that differences in these text files are responsible for the differences in appearance and function of the two menus.

Guided Tour of the MakeView Program

Highlights

· · Designing a new form or questionnaire (a View)

· · Text and numeric fields

· · Specifying a list of Legal values

· · Inserting a grid, the automatic way to deal with repeating data within a questionnaire

· · Large text (multiline) fields

To run MakeView, click on the MakeView button on the main menu screen. You should see a blank page for constructing a “View.” Questionnaires are called Views in Epi Info 2000 because there can be more than one View of a database or data table. A database table with the prefix “view” stores the screen appearance of the questionnaire, the characteristics of the fields, and any Check code that gives special instructions for the data entry process. Data values entered in the Enter program are stored in another table, without a special prefix.

To make a view, from the FILE menu choose Make New View. The dialog CREATE OR OPEN PROJECT appears. Enter a name for your project database, such as your name or initials, and click OPEN.

A project or database (.MDB for "Microsoft Database") file can hold as many Views and data tables as you wish (well, up to 1000, anyway). Generally it is best to create a new MDB file for each project you develop, as an MDB containing hundreds of tables will be hard to copy to diskettes. Analysis programs for processing the data can be stored in the same MDB with the data, making a convenient project package.

In the "Name the View" dialog, enter MOTHER as the name of the View within the MDB, and then click OK. Place the cursor near the upper left corner of the blank page and click the right mouse button. The field dialog box that appears offers options for entering the prompt, the field type and length, and a number of the characteristics that were previously implemented in Check files.

For the first field, enter the prompt “First Name” (without the quotation marks) and press Enter twice. This makes a text field that can hold up to 255 characters.

For the next field, you could move the cursor and right-click with the mouse on a suitable location, but, to see a shortcut method, press Enter instead while the cursor is in the FIRST NAME field. The field dialog pops up again and you are ready to enter “Last Name” as the prompt. After doing so, press Enter twice, and note that the second field is now automatically positioned on the View.

Below First Name, right-click to add another field. Enter the prompt “Today’s Date,” and use the scroll bar to the right of the field types to see the rest of the list of types. Choose the DATE type and the appropriate date format as MM-DD-YYYY or DD-MM-YYYY in the dialog. Click OK. Add another field for “Date of Birth,” using the same field type and pattern. Click OK.

Right-click on the form to make a field for AGE. Type “Age” as the prompt. Choose NUMBER for the TYPE and then choose ### or ## from the PATTERN list. You can also type patterns into the pattern window. Click on OK at the bottom of the dialog.

The next field is “Sex.” We will use it to illustrate how variable names are constructed. Right-click where you would like to place the field. Type “Male, Female, or Unknown Sex” in the prompt window, press Enter, and note what appears in the Field Name window on the right. Now click again in the prompt window, and with the left mouse button held down, select just the word “Sex”. Double-click on the selected word, “Sex,” in the prompt window. Note that the variable name becomes SEX. (In Epi Info 6, we would have enclosed “Sex” in curly brackets.)

Now create legal values for SEX by clicking the LEGAL VALUES button. In the dialog box that appears, choose CREATE NEW, and then enter suitable values (Male, Female, Unknown) in the list that appears, pressing Enter after each to obtain a new blank line. Click OK, and then OK again in the field dialog box. Note the button on the right side of the SEX field. Left-click on the button to show the list of legal values from which to select during data entry.

To move a field on the screen, click on the prompt for the field and drag it to a new location while holding the left mouse button down. Use this method to space the fields on the page. Most types of fields can be resized by clicking in the field and then clicking and dragging the colored “handles” that appear. Text fields are limited to one line, but we will add a multiline field later.

It is time to save the page and add another one. Click on the ADD PAGE button under the page window on the left side of the screen. The first page is saved automatically and a blank page appears.

We are going to insert a Grid (table of columns and rows) on Page 2 to record the names, ages, and immunization status of the children in the household. Right-click in the upper left corner of the form and enter “Children in the Household” as the prompt. Click on the INSERT GRID button in the dialog. Enter the name of the first grid column, “Name,” in the prompt box. Click on SAVE COLUMN about midway down the form (DONE at the bottom is now for the entire grid.). Enter the second column as “Age” and make it a NUMBER. Click SAVE COLUMN and enter the last column as a text field called “Immunization.” Now click SAVE COLUMN once more and then DONE at the bottom of the dialog. The grid will appear on the View.

Click on the grid so that handles appear around it. Click and drag the lower right handle or others to adjust the size of the space for the grid. Click outside the grid to remove the handles. To adjust the size of the columns, hover the mouse over the line between two column headings until a right/left arrow appears. Then hold the left mouse button down and drag the line to the right or left to adjust the column width.

The grid will create a related file that will allow the user to enter as many children as needed for each household. The program automatically maintains an appropriate key for linking the related file.

Click ADD PAGE again and you are ready to make page 3 of the View. Now make a field of the MULTILINE type having the prompt, “Comments of Interviewer.” Click OK and then click on the field, adjusting its size as you did with the grid to make it big enough to enter a number of comments. There is no practical limit on the amount of text that can be entered in MULTILINE fields. Add a text field for “Interviewer’s Initials,” and save this page with the SAVE command on the FILE menu.

Checking and Controlling Data Entry

Highlights

· · Inserting commands to customize the data entry process

· · Calculating an age from two dates

We would like AGE to be calculated automatically after entering Today’s Date and a Date of Birth. If both of these dates are given then the cursor should skip over AGE after the calculation is performed. These functions can be programmed in the Check code environment.

Return to page 1 by clicking on its entry in the page list on the upper left. Bring up the Check environment by clicking on the PROGRAM button to the left of the view. A list of fields and available Check commands appear at the top of the screen in a tabbed dialog, and the program editor is displayed below.

Click on the arrow under “Choose Field Where Action Will Occur” to pull down the choices. Since we want Age to be calculated after DateOfBirth is entered, choose the DateOfBirth field. Click on the VARIABLES tab and then the ASSIGN command. Display the list of available variables for the ASSIGN VARIABLE by clicking on the arrow. Choose AGE, and then type Years(DateOfBirth,TodaysDate) in the next space. Choose the field names from the pull-down list if you do not know them in advance. Click on the SAVE button and note that the command,

ASSIGN Age=Years(DateOfBirth, TodaysDate)

appears in the program editor. YEARS is a function that calculates the interval between two date fields in years rather than days, weeks, or months. The starting date is listed first and the ending date second in the parentheses, separated by a comma. A list of functions is contained in the Functions and Operators chapter of the manual.

To make the cursor skip over AGE if it has been calculated, choose AGE as the FIELD WHERE ACTION WILL OCCUR. A prompt asks if you wish to save the previous commands. Click the YES button. Now from the RECORDS tab, choose the IF command. In the CONDITION blank, type (or select from the pull-down list and the buttons) the condition, AGE>1. Click on the THEN button. Now from the FIELDS tab, click GOTO, and within the next dialog, type or select the variable SEX. Click OK, and you should see in the program window, the command,

IF AGE >1 THEN

Goto Sex

END

You have written your first Epi Info 2000 Check program. Exit from the Check programming facility by clicking on the OK button and answering “Yes” to the prompt about saving Check code. This completes the view. Although you could exit from MakeView at this point and run the Enter program from the Epi Info 2000 menu, it is more convenient to run Enter from within MakeView.

Making a Database

Remain in MakeView, choose ENTER DATA from the FILE menu and respond “OK” to have the program construct a database from the view. The data table will have the name displayed unless you choose to edit the name. The Enter program displays the view for data entry.

Guided Tour of the Enter Program

Highlights

· · Entering data and verifying that your age calculation works

· · Moving from page to page

· · Opening an existing View and database

· · Navigating from record to record

· · Searching for particular records

· · A sample surveillance view with related views available according to disease condition

You should have the MOTHER questionnaire on the screen. If not, go back to the main menu and choose ENTER DATA, OPEN on the File menu, and then the database that you created and the MOTHER view. Enter data in the fields displayed. After you enter Date of Birth, the age should be calculated automatically, and the cursor should jump to the Sex field. At the end of each page, the entries will be saved automatically. On page 2, fill in the grid with reasonable answers. After the first line, a second is created automatically. Enter as many children as desired, moving the cursor with the ENTER key and/or arrow keys. Press the Enter or Esc key to move to the next page, saving page 2 on the way. You can also click on the NEW button to save the current record and move to a blank record.

After entering the data for page 3, press the Enter key. You should now see an empty record 2, ready for entry. Note that the record number appears on the lower left.

Opening Another View

To see another view containing more data, choose OPEN from the FILE menu and then click on CHANGE PROJECT. Choose the database SAMPLE and the View OSWEGO. Note the record number at the lower left is 76, representing the 75 records in the table plus the empty record now on the screen.

Moving From Record to Record

Examine the records in the file by moving from record to record with the arrow buttons on the lower left. The double arrows move to the first and last records; single arrows move one record at a time. To move to a new record, click on the double right arrows twice.

Finding Records

To find records matching specified criteria, click on the FIND button on the left. A dialog box appears. Choose the AGE field and then type “11” (without quotation marks) in the field that appears. Click on the OK button to find all the records in which AGE is 11. To choose one of these records for editing, double-click on the left side of its row until the entire row is highlighted and the selected record appears on the screen. If you prefer not to select one of the records shown, but to continue with the current record, click on the BACK button.

A More Complicated View with Groups of Variables and Related Views

Open the view called SURVEILLANCE in the SAMPLE.MDB database. Note that the variables are arranged on panels. Each panel is a GROUP. In Analysis, group names can be referred to as a shortcut to perform operations on all the variables in the group. For example, LIST PersonalInfo would display data from all the variables in the lower group panel.

Related Views are displayed in the box in the lower part of the left panel. Because each of the Views shown is designed for a particular disease, they are inactive and do not respond to mouse clicks when you first open SURVEILLANCE and a new, blank record is displayed.

Use the single and/or double left arrow buttons in the lower left panel to move back to record 1. The double arrow buttons move immediately to the first or last records in the table. The single arrows move one record at a time. The New button moves to the next empty record.

Note that the Disease in record 2 is “Hepatitis,” and that the HEPATITIS DETAILS button is therefore active. Click on this button to see the special form for Hepatitis. Use the Back button to return to the main Surveillance form.

After experimenting with SURVEILLANCE and perhaps entering one or more records, choose EXIT from the FILE menu to return to the main menu.

Guided Tour of the Analysis Program

Highlights

· · READ a view or a data file or table

· · LIST the contents of the database

· · Obtain the FREQuency of values for a field

· · Cross-tabulate with the TABLES command and resulting epidemiologic statistics

· · The library of previous output, all in HTML for the Internet

· · Choose how "Yes" and "No" are displayed

· · Define a new variable and assigning a value

· · Use an IF statement to determine and assign case status

· · SELECT a subset of records to process

· · RECODE values to group the AGE field

· · WRITE data to another file or table

· · READ a non Access file

· · READ related tables in a view and analyze data from more than one table

To run Analysis, click on the ANALYZE DATA button on the main menu screen. Note that all commands are shown in the tree view on the left. Clicking on a command will bring up a dialog that places the command in appropriate form in the program editor at the bottom of the screen. Results appear in the third window above the program editor, which is a simplified version of the Microsoft Internet browser.

READing a View in Analysis

Click on the READ command. A dialog box appears so that you can choose a database and a view. Choose the project SAMPLE.MDB and the View OSWEGO. Click OK and note that the READ command appears in the program editor in the proper syntax. You are creating a program by responding to questions in the dialog boxes.

Lists

Click on the LIST command. In the dialog that appears, choose one or more variables or click on “ALL” to choose all. Choose GRID as the output format and click OK. The variables are displayed in columns in a scrolling window. Click the button with the "X" in the upper right corner of the Grid to leave the Grid. Try the LIST command again, but choose HTML as the output format. This time the results appear in the form of an Internet web page displayed in the small browser included with Epi Info 2000. This browser displays web pages on the local machine, but is not itself connected with the Internet. If you have another browser on your computer, the Epi Info browser will use it for Internet access if necessary.

Frequencies

Choose the FREQuencies command. In the dialog box, use the dropdown menu to select one or more variables, and then click OK. After a short wait, the results should appear in the browser window. Scroll up and down and note that each table is accompanied by yellow bars to the right that indicate the frequencies. Statistics will be displayed below the table if the value of the variable is numeric, as in AGE, but not for Yes/No fields like ILL.

Tables

Click the TABLES command. In the EXPOSURE VARIABLE field, choose VANILLA and for the OUTCOME VARIABLE, choose ILL. This will perform a cross-tabulation of VANILLA by ILL. Note that stratified analyses can be done by inserting the name of the stratifying variable(s). Summary data can be processed by setting WEIGHT equal to the name of a COUNT field. Click OK.

Note that the output in the browser includes a table and a graphic representation of the table values in each cell. Statistics are displayed below the table. If you have a printer connected, try printing the table by clicking on the PRINT button. (Information on the statistics in Epi Info is available in the Statistics file under HELP on the main menu.)

Viewing Previous Results

Click on CLOSEOUT to close the document you just created and then, click on the hyperlink called RESULTS LIBRARY at the top or bottom of the TABLES output in the browser. An index page appears, showing previous commands that have produced output files. Click on any of the entries to display it. An archiving system is provided so that important results can be selected and saved for future reference. You can learn more about storage of results by choosing the OUTPUT tab and examining the choices under STORING OUTPUT.

Setting the Displayed Values for Yes/No Fields

Click on SET under OPTIONS in the command tree on the left side of the screen. Note the options for customizing output. Change the values to be displayed for Yes/No fields, choosing from those available or typing your own, such as “Si” and “No” in Spanish. Choose LIST again from the STATISTICS tab and verify that the values displayed are those of your choice.

Defining a New Variable

Under Variables, choose the DEFINE command. Type STATUS as the name of a new variable. We want to set this variable to “Case” if the person was ILL and “Control” otherwise. A Standard variable, with the value reset for each record as the program passes through a table, is the best choice for this purpose. Click OK, and the necessary statement will appear in the program window.

An IF Statement

We can use an IF statement to set the value of the new STATUS variable. Choose the SELECT/IF tab and click on IF. The first item in the dialog is the condition under which the following statements should or should not be executed. The final format of the necessary IF statement is:

IF ILL = "Yes" THEN

STATUS = "CASE"

ELSE

STATUS = "CONTROL"

END

You will not have to remember the format, however, since filling in the blanks in the dialog will allow Epi Info 2000 to write the necessary command in the program editor. In the first blank, fill in the Condition as ILL="Yes". To do so, you can choose the variable ILL from the list of variables in the second window and choose the equal sign and condition “Yes” by clicking on buttons with these labels. The “Yes” button will display whatever label is specified for “Yes” in the SET dialog—“(+)”, “Yes”, “Si”, etc.

Regardless of the setting for Yes/No fields, “Yes” is always represented in the database as 1, No as 0, and Unknown as a blank or null value. These values can also be used, as in:

IF ILL = 1 THEN (Note that numbers do not have quotation marks)

Etc.

If you are familiar with commands in Epi Info 6, you can type your own command in the box located under the then button. On the other hand, if you are experimenting for the first time with programming languages, you may want to use the aid available for IF statements. In the first case type STATUS="CASE". On the THEN box and STATUS="Control" in the ELSE box.. Click OK to finish the command.

If you are not an expert, click on the THEN button. As you can see the command screen for Analysis came in front of the IF form at the top, in the blue bar, you will read “Then Statement” meaning that all commands created will be executed if the condition stated in the IF are true.

Select ASSIGN. A form similar to the regular assign form is displayed, but, in this case, an ADD button replaces the OK button. Click on the arrow labeled “Assign Variable” and select STATUS from the list. On the box labeled “= Expression” type “CASE” (Do not forget to include quotes. Click on ADD to complete the task.

The expression STATUS = “CASE” should appear on the box located under the THEN button. You can edit that statement. Place the cursor between the E and the quote in CASE and add an “S” (Without quotes). The resulting statement should be

ASSIGN STATUS = “CASES”

Follow the same procedure for the ELSE side of the statement; but in this case, the assign statement would be ASSIGN STATUS = “CONTROLS”

When the IF statement is completed, click on the OK button. The complete IFstatement will appear in the program editor.

Use the LIST command to verify that STATUS is indeed properly set, and that records where ILL = “Yes” have “CASE” as the value of STATUS.

The SELECT Command

The SELECT statement limits subsequent analysis to particular records based on criteria that you specify. To work with cases only, for example, choose the SELECT statement and enter the condition STATUS = "CASE". Use LIST or FREQ STATUS to show that cases only are included in the analysis. To return to working with all the records, choose CANCEL SELECT and note that it places the word SELECT, without conditions, in the program.

The RECODE Command

To Group the values of AGE, first DEFINE a new variable called AGEGROUP, using the DEFINE command. Then Choose RECODE and specify that you will recode from AGE to AGEGROUP, using the drop down list. Then enter 0, 18, and “Child” on the first line of the grid and 19, 120, and “Adult” on the second line. Click OK, and then do a LIST to see the results.

Creating a New File with the WRITE Command

At this point, we have made several improvements in the dataset, and might want to create a file containing the new variables. The new file can be either an Epi Info 2000 (Microsoft Access) file or one of many other file types. Choose the WRITE command, and then, from the list of Output Formats, choose “dBASE IV”. Specify “All” variables and “Replace” so that an existing file by the same name will be overwritten. Give your Initials for the file name. Click on OK to write the file.

READing a dBASE File

Now that you have produced a dBASE IV file, it is time to test the flexibility of Analysis in READing a variety of file types. Choose READ from the DATA tab, specify dBASE IV format, and read the file you have just produced. Use LIST and/or FREQ to verify that the variables you created and their values are contained in the new file.

READing a View with Related Views

Related views contain different information about a single individual or record and are linked by a common identification variable.. Epi Info 2000 comes with an example of related views called Refugee, taken from a local health department system for following the health status of recently arrived refugees.

Click on READ and then click on the CHANGE PROJECT button. Look for a file called REFUGEE.MDB and double click on it. There are several views available in this project. Click on FAMILY and then OK.

The table called FAMILYcontains 539 records. Use LIST (*) to see all fields in the database. ViewFamily relates to ViewPatient by a common field called FAMIDNUM. Click on RELATE. A new window will be displayed In the Views box, highlight the viewPatient table and then click on BUILD KEY. Note that the Build Key button is not active until you select viewPatient from the list.

After clicking on Build Key, a new form appears. It contains two parts “Current Table(s)” and “Related Table.” The current table is active. From the box labeled “Available Variables” select FAMIDNUM and then click on “Related Table”. The variable FAMIDNUM will be shown in the current table(s) box. Now select again from the available variables box FAMIDNUM and click OK. The field FAMIDNUM should be visible in both boxes. Click again on OK to close the form. In the box labeled “Key” there is a new instruction that should say that FAMIDNUM::FAMIDNUM is the relational key. Once you become familiar with these relational keys, you can just type the relation directly into the key box instead of clicking on the Build Key button.

To complete the task, click on OK. As you can see, the header in your output shows now 1772 records and the table is viewFamily join viewPatient.

Create a table using country (located in FAMILY) as the EXPOSURE VARIABLE and sex (located in PATIENT) as the OUTCOME VARIABLE.

Guided Tour of the NutStat Program for Nutritional Anthropometry

Highlights

· · Entering data from one child's measurements

· · Interpreting results from calculations based on accepted reference standards

· · Graphing more than one result to show a child's growth

· · Customizing the data entry screen

Run the NutStat program by clicking the NUTRITION button on the main menu. The program should obtain the name of the last database accessed from the EPIINFO.INI file and load this database automatically. If you do not see record number 105 and the data table name NUTCHILDREN at the top of the program, use the OPEN command on the FILE menu to open first the NUTRI.MDB database and then the table called NUTCHILDREN.

Click the left arrow next to the IdNumber several times until you see a record belonging to Alouetta Delia. Alouetta has four records in the table. To see the others, click on the left-pointing arrow in the DATE OF MEASUREMENT box and look at each of the earlier records. Click on the GRAPH button. Choose “Z-Scores” as the graph type and click OK to see a graph of her results compared with the International growth reference curves. Age is shown across the bottom of the graph and the left axis shows by how many standard deviations the child's measurement differs from the International average reference standard for that age and sex. The advantage of z-scores (standard deviations) is that both height and weight can be plotted on the same graph. In interpreting the graph, it is important to know that two standard deviations in either direction from 0 is approximately the 95th percentile and three is near the 99th percentile. Hence, in Alouetta's second set of measurements, her height is nearly at the 99th percentile for girls her age, but her weight is slightly below the norm; she must have been tall and slender at age 4 (48 months) when this set of measurements was taken.

To move to another child’s record, choose the next IDNumber by clicking on the right arrow in the IDNumber box. By clicking repeatedly, you will discover how many children there are in this database. Click on the second button to the right of the IDNumber to create a new record and IDNumber Note that clicking the left arrow from the new record will return to the last completed record in the table.

In the new record, enter a name, sex, and birth date. Note that the age is calculated automatically after you press Enter. Now enter values for height and weight (for a 10-year old, 140 centimeters and 40 kilos will do). Note that the statistical calculations appear as soon as you press Enter in the weight field. The body mass index is calculated automatically (but we are awaiting new standards before calculating the age-specific values for body mass index).

Enter 15 centimeters or 6 inches for arm circumference and note the z-scores. Now click on New in the IDNumber box to save the record and go on to the next.

From the File menu, choose Customize to see the options available. On the Units tab, choose either the English or Metric system of measurement, click on Arm Circumference to deselect it, and then choose OK. Note that the main screen now displays only the measurement units selected and that Arm Circumference no longer appears. Return to Customize and set up the main screen in the configuration you find most useful for your own environment.

NutStat is designed to accept the new NCHS growth reference curves as soon as they become available, but these features have been disabled pending release of the new standards.

Guided Tour of the Epi Map Program

Highlights

· · Adding a shapefile to create a map

· · Adding data to be represented as a color density map

· · Creating a map of cholera cases in John Snow's London using X and Y coordinates of case households

First, let’s make a map of Mexico representing one numeric result for each State by coloring the polygons that represent the States. Run Epi Map from the main menu. In the FILE menu of Epi Map choose MAP MANAGER, and from the LAYERS card, click on ADD MAP LAYER. You should see a choice of shapefiles (.SHP), containing the boundaries of geographic regions. The SHP extension indicates this is a shapefile, the popular Geographic Information System (GIS) format used by Epi Map 2000 and the commercial program ArcView. Open the file called MxState.shp and choose NAME as the field containing the names of Mexico's states.

A database containing public health data from Mexico is provided. Click on ADD DATA, and then select the SAMPLE.MDB database and choose the table called MexMap95. The appropriate Geographic Field is STATE and the data field is PerTeenBirths95, the percentage of total 1995 births to teen mothers (age <20 years). You should see a map of Mexico with the percentage of all births that occurred to adolescent mothers for each state, represented as a shade of blue. These data were provided by Dr. Fernando Beltrán, and are from the Mexico Ministry of Health, 1995 Vital Statistics Report.

You can experiment with features such as FIND on the EDIT menu (also represented by the binocular button). Try finding “Vera,” for example. (This feature is case-sensitive.) The magnifying glasses with + and - signs are for zooming to larger or smaller sizes. Click on the one with the + sign and then click and drag a rectangle over an interesting part of the map. It will zoom to fill the frame. Try moving the map with the white glove (“panning”). You can restore the size to normal either with the negative magnifying glass or with the world button that represents the global or full extent view. The “i” symbol means “Identify.” Click it and then click on a state to see the data values for that state—both those contained in DBF table of the shapefile and those in the related table of the MDB database.

Under the FILE menu, you can SAVE AS BITMAP FILE, and under the EDIT menu COPY BITMAP TO CLIPBOARD. Once you execute either of these options, you can add or paste the map into documents in other software programs, i.e., reports or graphic presentations. You may want to use the FILE / SAVE AS GIF FILE in preparation for adding the map to a Web page.

Epi Map can represent data as discrete points on the screen, as well as quantitative values within polygons. The following set of instructions will produce a map resembling John Snow’s famous map of cholera cases in the Soho district of London during 1854 in relation to the various public pumps used for drinking water. A popular theory of the time related cases to the presence of an old cemetery where plague victims from a previous century had been buried; hence the cemetery will be included as a separate layer in the map.

First run Epi Map from the main menu. From the FILE menu, choose MAP MANAGER. Choose ADD MAP LAYER, and then open the SohoSt.SHP file. Now you should see a map of the streets of Soho. From the map manager and add the cemetery by using ADD MAP LAYER and choosing SohoBuri.SHP. To add the locations of the water pumps, use ADD POINTS and select SAMPLE.MDB and then SohoPump. Another dialog asks for the x and y coordinate fields. This is an easy choice in this exercise; X Coord is the X coordinate and Y Coord is the Y coordinate. Click on NAME in the choice in the lower left so that the names of the pumps will be displayed. To make the pumps large, choose 15 for their size, and change the color by clicking in the black rectangle and choosing a brighter color like red. Click OK after choosing the color, and then again for the dialog. You should see the pumps and their names arrayed on the map.

To display the cases, repeat the ADD POINTS process, this time choosing SohoDead from SAMPLE.MDB and 5 for the size of the symbols. Use a contrasting color like black and do not choose a Point Label field for displaying text. You should see a large number of points representing the addresses where cholera cases occurred. Since some households had multiple cases, the visible points actually represent “households having at least one death due to cholera” rather than single cases.

Although the map suggests that the Broad Street pump was central to the location of cases, and other evidence did incriminate this pump, one must remember that the distribution of points is a function not only of the mortality rate but also of population distribution, and that rates rather than numbers of cases would be necessary to draw a scientific conclusion. Assuming, however, that the population was fairly evenly distributed through Soho, the impression that the map gives is useful. Dr. Snow’s similar map helped him convince the neighborhood council to remove the handle of the Broad Street pump, and the epidemic subsided.

Guided Tour of the VisData Program

Highlights

· · Seeing the inside of the language translation database

· · Seeing the inside of an Epi Info View table

VisData is a utility program for viewing and performing useful operations on database files or tables. Choose Visualize Data from the main menu. Choose OPEN from the FILE menu and the MICROSOFT ACCESS file type (Epi Info 2000 tables are in the Access 97 format). Open the SAMPLE.MDB database. The buttons on the toolbar control what happens when you click the icon for one of the tables. Tool tips explaining the function of each button appear if you allow the mouse to hover over a button. Click on the leftmost toolbar button and then the one with the grid just to the left of the blue cylinder. Double-click the table name AgeWithCount to see a spreadsheet view of the data in this table. Note that the variables are represented as column headings and records as rows. VisData is a useful utility for seeing the internal details of databases. Microsoft Access, if you have it, can be used for the same purpose.

Next Steps

This completes the Guided Tour. You are now familiar with the main features of Epi Info 2000. We suggest that you try working with your own data, either by designing a View and then entering data or by READing an existing dataset in the Analysis program. The rest of the manual provides more detail on the programs, and the How To chapter has instructions for solving specific problems. Reference material is in the Commands chapter and is also available from the programs via the Help buttons in particular dialogs.

We hope that you have enjoyed the Tour, and will send your impressions and suggestions to the Development Team at the contact addresses in the front of the manual. If you would like to participate in the Epi Info Worldwide Discussion Group (a LISTSERV) by e-mail, please use the instructions in the front of the manual to join. The Epi Info Web Site is available at all times to provide information, updates of programs, and access to vendors, trainers, and the Epi Info Technical Support staff.

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