Controls who experienced hypothetical causal inter... Catalogue en ligne

Titre :	Controls who experienced hypothetical causal intermedi hould not be excluded from case-control studies. (1999)
Auteurs :	C. POOLE
Type de document :	Article
Dans :	American journal of epidemiology (vol. 150, n° 6, 1999)
Pagination :	547-551
Langues:	Anglais
Mots-clés :	Cancer ; Rectum ; Tabagisme ; Facteur risque ; Epidémiologie ; Méthodologie ; Homme ; Appareil digestif [pathologie] ; Intestin [pathologie] ; Tumeur bénigne ; Côlon
Résumé :	[BDSP. Notice produite par INIST R0xwkH27. Diffusion soumise à autorisation]. It has been suggested that controls with adenematous polyps of the colon and rectum should be excluded from case-control studies of cigarette smoking and colorectal cancer. A claim has been made that the presence of such controls creates a bias toward the null. The polyps are an intermediate step in a hypothetical causal pathway between the exposure and the disease. Thus, the recommendation logically extends to the exclusion of all controls who experienced hypothetical causal intermediates from all case-control studies. It is shown, in the simple case of an exposure that acts solely through the pathway involving the intermediate, that such exclusions create a bias away from the null. The rationale for recommending the detrimental exclusions appears to stem from a variant of the "trohoc fallacy" : the mistaken view of case-control studies as comparisons between diseased and healthy groups and not as comparisons between groups that differ by exposure.

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