Epi Info

Epi Info is public domain statistical software for epidemiology developed by Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia (USA).
Epi Info has been in existence for over 20 years and is currently available for Microsoft
Windows. The program allows for electronic survey creation, data entry, and analysis. Within
the analysis module, analytic routines include t-tests, ANOVA, nonparametric statistics, cross
tabulations and stratification with estimates of odds ratios, risk ratios, and risk differences,
logistic regression (conditional and unconditional), survival analysis (Kaplan Meier and Cox
proportional hazard), and analysis of complex survey data. The software is in the public domain,
free, and can be downloaded fromhttp://www.cdc.gov/epiinfo. Limited support is available.

What is Epi Info™?

Physicians, nurses, epidemiologists, and other public health workers lacking a background in
information technology often have a need for simple tools that allow the rapid creation of data

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collection instruments and data analysis, visualization, and reporting using epidemiologic

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methods. Epi Info™, a suite of lightweight software tools, delivers core ad-hoc epidemiologic
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functionality without the complexity or expense of large, enterprise applications.
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Epi Info™ is easily used in places with limited network connectivity or limited resources for
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commercial software and professional IT support. Epi Info™ is flexible, scalable, and free while
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enabling data collection, advanced statistical analyses, and geographic information system (GIS)
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mapping capability.
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Since its initial release, Epi Info™ users have self-registered in over 181 countries covering all
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continents including Antarctica. Epi Info™ has been translated in more than 13 languages.
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More than one million users are estimated.

EDUCATION
Epi Info™ is a key component in public health education at colleges, universities, and other
schools of public health around the world.

COLLABORATION
Epi Info™ encourages collaboration between local, national, and international partners using Epi
Info™ state and territorial epidemiologists; national centers, institutes, and government offices;
and foreign ministries of health and United Nations World Health Organization constituents.

INNOVATION
Epi Info™ is dedicated to enabling the innovation and leadership required to improve public
health through informatics.
How is Epi Info™ Used?
Epi Info™ is used worldwide for the rapid assessment of disease outbreaks; for the development
of small to mid-sized disease surveillance systems; as ad hoc components integrated with other
large scale or enterprise-wide public health information systems; and in the continuous education
of public health professionals learning the science of epidemiology, tools, and techniques.

 The MakeView module of Epi Info™ allows users to create questionnaires and data entry
forms called Views in Epi Info™. With MakeView, users place questions and data entry
fields on one or many pages of a View and tailor the data entry process with conditional
skip patterns, data validation, and custom calculations programmed by the user using
MakeView's Check Code.
 The Enter module of Epi Info™ automatically creates the database from the questionnaire
in MakeView. Users enter data, modify existing data, or search for records. With Enter, the
Views are displayed and users perform the data entry while the Check Code validates the
data or performs any automatic calculations that were specified in MakeView.
 The Analysis module is used to read and analyze data entered with the Enter module or data
imported from 24 different data formats. Epidemiologic statistics, tables, graphs, and maps

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are produced with simple commands such as READ, FREQ, LIST, TABLES, GRAPH, and

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MAP. As each command is run, it is saved to the program editor where it can be
customized and saved, shared, and used in the future as data are revised.
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 The Epi Report module is a user-friendly tool to create professional custom reports that
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include results from the Analysis output. Epi Report can combine Analysis output with data
from Enter as well as other sources such as Access or SQL Server. Reports can be saved as
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HTML files for easy distribution or web publishing.

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 The Epi Map module displays geographic maps with data from Epi Info. Epi Map is built
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around the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) MapObjects software. Epi
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Map displays shapefiles containing the geographic boundaries layered with data results
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from the Analysis module.

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