Epiville

Quizzes

Quiz 6, Module Bias

6. What is the effect of this misclassification on the odds ratio?

  1. Check your answers here.
Answer — The Effect:
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.