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Common referent versus shifting referent methods when using case-control data to examine patterns of incidence across multiple exposure variables.
Annals of epidemiology, 16 (10): 743-8 (октября 2006)4772<m:linebreak></m:linebreak>LR: 20080623; GR: CA57699-06/CA/NCI NIH HHS/United States; JID: 9100013; 2005/04/21 received; 2006/03/21 revised; 2006/04/09 accepted; 2006/08/08 aheadofprint; ppublish;<m:linebreak></m:linebreak>Mesures d'associació.
DOI: 10.1016/j.annepidem.2006.04.011
Аннотация
PURPOSE: In case-control studies, when odds ratios estimate rate ratios or risk ratios, trends in odds ratios can reflect trends in incidence in the underlying population. METHODS AND RESULTS: In this report, we use an empirical example and hypothetical data to compare two methods ("common referent" and "shifting referent") for calculating odds ratios from case-control data across multiple exposure variables. With common referent methods, a single independent variable is constructed from the joint distribution of all exposure variables. With shifting referent methods, each stratum-specific trend has its own referent. CONCLUSIONS: Using examples involving a single ordinal "trend" variable and a dichotomous "stratification" variable, we show that common referent odds ratios will reflect the pattern of incidence in the underlying population, whereas odds ratios calculated using shifting referent methods will not.
