Epiville

Quizzes

Quiz 9, Module Cohort

9. After putting exhaustive effort into data analysis, you present your findings to your supervisor. What should you tell her?

  1. The elevated estimates (both risk and rate ratios) do not support your hypothesis that exposure to SUPERCLEAN production is associated with Susser Syndrome.
  2. The exposure to SUPERCLEAN production is the definite cause of Susser Syndrome. Those elevated rates are very convincing.
  3. The data clearly suggest an association between exposure to SUPERCLEAN at Glop Industries and successive development of Susser Syndrome. I think we might want to explore other potential exposure sources as well and try to improve exposure measurement.
Answer (a) — incorrect: The elevated estimates (both risk and rate ratios) lend support to your hypothesis that SUPERCLEAN production is associated with Susser Syndrome.
Answer (b) — incorrect: SUPERCLEAN appears to be associated with the development of Susser Syndrome. However, as detailed in Aschengrau (Chapter 15), 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 do not have enough data to arrive at such a conclusion.
Answer (c) — correct: The data do suggest an association; however, we need to check the statistical significance of these findings (i.e., look at the confidence intervals of effect estimates) as they may be due to chance. Furthermore, it is important to rule out other potential exposures as they may confound the findings.