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Quizzes

Quiz 10, Module Case-control

10. Now you must present your findings to your supervisor. What is your recommendation?

  1. Both the data on EnduroBrick and Quench-It consumption were inconclusive. The study should be repeated with more participants.
  2. While ingestion of EnduroBrick does not cause Susser Syndrome, the data do indicate that consumption of Quench-It does cause Susser Syndrome.
  3. The data suggest that the consumption of Quench-It is associated with later development of Susser Syndrome whereas the ingestion of EnduroBrick does not appear to be associated with Susser Syndrome. You suggest that you should explore other potential exposure sources to rule out other potential causes of Susser's Syndrome as well as to further characterize this association.
Answer (a) — incorrect: The OR of 2.4 supports an association between Susser Syndrome and Quench-It consumption. The OR of 1.0 suggests no association between Susser Syndrome and EnduroBrick ingestion.
Answer (b) — incorrect: You must not confuse association with causation. The data suggest that Quench-It is associated with Susser Syndrome development whereas EnduroBrick is not. However, as detailed in Aschengrau & Seage (pp. 383-405), to move from association to causation requires a substantial amount of epidemiological evidence as well as biological plausibility. At this stage in the investigation, we are far from having enough data to conclude that Quench-It is the cause of Susser Syndrome.
Answer (c) — correct: The data do suggest that Quench-It is associated with the development of Susser Syndrome while EnduroBrick is not. However, we need to check the statistical significance of these findings as they may be due to chance. Furthermore, it is important to rule out alternate explanations for the association (such as bias and confounding) before we make a causal claim.