Quiz 6, Module Bias
6. What is the effect of this misclassification on the odds ratio?
Scenario 1 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Breast cancer +
|
Breast cancer -
|
Total
|
|
Ever used lawn/garden pesticides |
1264
|
1231
|
2495
|
Never used lawn/garden pesticides |
230
|
305
|
535
|
Total |
1494
|
1536
|
3030
|
OR = (1,264/230)/(1,231/305) = 1.36
Your effect estimates have been inflated (i.e., biased away from the null). This makes sense because you have increased the 'a' cell (D+E+) thereby increasing the numerator of your estimates. What else is important here? You have misclassified exposure among diseased persons only (think about 2 ways this could happen in a study); therefore, because misclassification of exposure is linked to disease status, Scenario #1 is an example of differential misclassification in which the effect estimates were biased away from the null.