Abstract:
:Quantitative bias analysis serves several objectives in epidemiological research. First, it provides a quantitative estimate of the direction, magnitude and uncertainty arising from systematic errors. Second, the acts of identifying sources of systematic error, writing down models to quantify them, assigning values to the bias parameters and interpreting the results combat the human tendency towards overconfidence in research results, syntheses and critiques and the inferences that rest upon them. Finally, by suggesting aspects that dominate uncertainty in a particular research result or topic area, bias analysis can guide efficient allocation of sparse research resources. The fundamental methods of bias analyses have been known for decades, and there have been calls for more widespread use for nearly as long. There was a time when some believed that bias analyses were rarely undertaken because the methods were not widely known and because automated computing tools were not readily available to implement the methods. These shortcomings have been largely resolved. We must, therefore, contemplate other barriers to implementation. One possibility is that practitioners avoid the analyses because they lack confidence in the practice of bias analysis. The purpose of this paper is therefore to describe what we view as good practices for applying quantitative bias analysis to epidemiological data, directed towards those familiar with the methods. We focus on answering questions often posed to those of us who advocate incorporation of bias analysis methods into teaching and research. These include the following. When is bias analysis practical and productive? How does one select the biases that ought to be addressed? How does one select a method to model biases? How does one assign values to the parameters of a bias model? How does one present and interpret a bias analysis?. We hope that our guide to good practices for conducting and presenting bias analyses will encourage more widespread use of bias analysis to estimate the potential magnitude and direction of biases, as well as the uncertainty in estimates potentially influenced by the biases.
journal_name
Int J Epidemioljournal_title
International journal of epidemiologyauthors
Lash TL,Fox MP,MacLehose RF,Maldonado G,McCandless LC,Greenland Sdoi
10.1093/ije/dyu149subject
Has Abstractpub_date
2014-12-01 00:00:00pages
1969-85issue
6eissn
0300-5771issn
1464-3685pii
dyu149journal_volume
43pub_type
杂志文章abstract:BACKGROUND:Endometriosis has been associated with a higher risk of cutaneous melanoma, but the mechanisms underlying this association are unknown.Some constitutional factors known to influence melanoma risk have been associated with endometriosis in some retrospective studies. However, prospective data are scarce, and ...
journal_title:International journal of epidemiology
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1093/ije/dyt235
更新日期:2014-02-01 00:00:00
abstract:BACKGROUND:Genetic and maternal prenatal environmental factors as well as the post-natal rearing environment may contribute to the association between childhood socioeconomic circumstances and later mortality. In order to disentangle these influences, we studied all-cause and cause-specific mortality in a cohort of ado...
journal_title:International journal of epidemiology
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1093/ije/dyl045
更新日期:2006-10-01 00:00:00
abstract:BACKGROUND:Mycobacterium leprae (M. leprae) soluble antigen (MLSA) reagents have been developed with the aim of finding a reagent, comparable to tuberculin, which could identify individuals infected with the leprosy bacillus. They have yet to be evaluated fully in human populations. METHODS:More than 15000 individuals...
journal_title:International journal of epidemiology
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1093/ije/27.4.713
更新日期:1998-08-01 00:00:00
abstract:BACKGROUND:Prolonged breastfeeding in developing countries is routinely recommended as a valuable and cost-effective public health measure to promote early childhood growth. However, the effects of breastfeeding beyond 12 months are unclear, with some studies showing positive, and some showing negative effects. The rol...
journal_title:International journal of epidemiology
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1093/ije/27.3.484
更新日期:1998-06-01 00:00:00
abstract::Theoretical considerations concerning the use of other cancer patients as controls in cancer case-control studies are reviewed. Selection bias may be a problem in that some other cancers may be caused by the exposure under study biasing the odds ratio towards unity. Such bias is noted to be greatest with low prevalenc...
journal_title:International journal of epidemiology
pub_type: 杂志文章,评审
doi:10.1093/ije/17.2.298
更新日期:1988-06-01 00:00:00
abstract::This case-control study was designed to determine whether males who were exposed to diethylstilboestrol (DES) in utero are at increased risk of testicular cancer. Questionnaires were completed for 79 residents of Connecticut, who were diagnosed with primary cancer of the testes between 1945 and approximately six month...
journal_title:International journal of epidemiology
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1093/ije/17.4.738
更新日期:1988-12-01 00:00:00
abstract:BACKGROUND:Methodological issues in the design and interpretation of cross-sectional interview surveys of the prevalence of acute respiratory infections (ARI) were assessed among young children. METHODS:A cross-sectional survey was conducted in approximately 20,000 children in the north of Ghana. Approximately half we...
journal_title:International journal of epidemiology
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1093/ije/23.3.608
更新日期:1994-06-01 00:00:00
abstract:BACKGROUND:Early-life social environment has been suggested to play an important role during the development of Helicobacter pylori-related gastric diseases. We aimed to assess the association of sibship size with H. pylori infection and chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG) in a population-based study from Germany. METHOD...
journal_title:International journal of epidemiology
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1093/ije/dyp250
更新日期:2010-02-01 00:00:00
abstract:BACKGROUND:A growing body of literature suggests that physical activity may be a protective factor against hip fracture. METHODS:To study the association between hip fracture risk and recreational physical activity at various ages, changes in activity during adult life, occupational physical activity and how risks var...
journal_title:International journal of epidemiology
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1093/ije/29.2.308
更新日期:2000-04-01 00:00:00
abstract::Management of medical services necessitates decisions regarding the possibly ineffective treatment programmes, hospitals and (even) individual practitioners. Although rigorous evaluations of effectiveness can only be achieved by randomized trials there has been, in recent years, much increase in audit (or peer review)...
journal_title:International journal of epidemiology
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1093/ije/12.4.482
更新日期:1983-12-01 00:00:00
abstract:BACKGROUND:Ciprofloxacin, ceftriaxone and pivmecillinam are the antibiotics currently recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the treatment of dysentery in children; yet there have been no reviews of the clinical effectiveness of these antibiotics in recent years. METHODS:We reviewed all literature repo...
journal_title:International journal of epidemiology
pub_type: 杂志文章,meta分析,评审
doi:10.1093/ije/dyq024
更新日期:2010-04-01 00:00:00
abstract:BACKGROUND:Identifying mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in midlife could improve early identification of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Also, AD is highly heritable, but the heritability of MCI has not been established. We estimated prevalence rates, association with premorbid general cognitive ability (GCA) and heritability...
journal_title:International journal of epidemiology
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1093/ije/dyt242
更新日期:2014-04-01 00:00:00
abstract::High-income countries are experiencing an obesity epidemic that follows a socioeconomic gradient, affecting groups of lower socioeconomic status disproportionately. Recent clinical findings have suggested new perspectives for the prevention and treatment of obesity, using personalized dietary approaches. Precision nut...
journal_title:International journal of epidemiology
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1093/ije/dyy274
更新日期:2019-04-01 00:00:00
abstract::An outbreak of typhoid fever occurred in Chu-Tung township, Taiwan, with dates of onset from 6 July to 8 August, 1983. Fifty-four cases were hospitalized, of which 52 were laboratory confirmed. A chloramphenicol-resistant strain of Salmonella typhi was isolated from patients' blood samples. A community survey of 2772 ...
journal_title:International journal of epidemiology
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1093/ije/18.1.254
更新日期:1989-03-01 00:00:00
abstract::Aetiology confronts two distinct issues: the determinants of individual cases, and the determinants of incidence rate. If exposure to a necessary agent is homogeneous within a population, then case/control and cohort methods will fail to detect it: they will only identify markers of susceptibility. The corresponding s...
journal_title:International journal of epidemiology
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1093/ije/14.1.32
更新日期:1985-03-01 00:00:00
abstract:BACKGROUND:Present understanding of increased risk of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-related infectious mononucleosis among children of low birth order or small sibships is mainly based on old and indirect evidence. Societal changes and methodological limitations of previous studies call for new data. METHODS:We used data f...
journal_title:International journal of epidemiology
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1093/ije/dyu118
更新日期:2014-10-01 00:00:00
abstract:BACKGROUND:The purpose of this study was to analyse misclassification of height, weight and body mass index (BMI), derived from mail questionnaires, and its dependency on socioeconomic factors. METHODS:A random sample of 4442 adults aged 18-84 years, living in Stockholm county, Sweden, were in 1984-1985 asked about th...
journal_title:International journal of epidemiology
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1093/ije/26.4.860
更新日期:1997-08-01 00:00:00
abstract::Cirrhosis mortality death rates in Ontario for ages 20 and over declined from a high of 9.3 per 100,000 in 1911 to a low of 5.6 per 100,000 in 1919 (p less than 0.001) and after a 17-year period of relative stability, rose steadily to a high of 19.7 per 100,000 in 1975 (p less than 0.0001) and then declined to 13.3 pe...
journal_title:International journal of epidemiology
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1093/ije/20.1.199
更新日期:1991-03-01 00:00:00
abstract::This cohort profile describes the origins, tracing, recruitment, testing and follow-up of the University of Edinburgh-based Lothian Birth Cohorts of 1921 (LBC1921; N = 550) and 1936 (LBC1936; N = 1091). The participants undertook a general intelligence test at age 11 years and were recruited for these cohorts at mean ...
journal_title:International journal of epidemiology
pub_type: 历史文章,杂志文章
doi:10.1093/ije/dyr197
更新日期:2012-12-01 00:00:00
abstract:BACKGROUND:Computerized record linkage is commonly used in cohort studies to ascertain the study outcome, and as such its accuracy classifying the outcome can be described using the standard epidemiological terms of sensitivity and positive predictive value (PPV). METHOD:We describe a 'duplicate method' to calculate t...
journal_title:International journal of epidemiology
pub_type: 杂志文章,评审
doi:10.1093/ije/31.6.1246
更新日期:2002-12-01 00:00:00
abstract:BACKGROUND:The long-term effects of infant vitamin D supplementation and status are unclear since there have been few controlled intervention trials and these have been small and contradictory. The Delhi Infant Vitamin D Supplementation (DIVIDS) trial found that supplementation of low-birthweight term infants with one ...
journal_title:International journal of epidemiology
pub_type: 杂志文章,随机对照试验
doi:10.1093/ije/dyv116
更新日期:2015-06-01 00:00:00
abstract::Trachoma was considered to have been 'eradicated' from the state of São Paulo, Brazil, until 1982 when a number of new cases of trachoma were reported in preschool children in Bebedouro, a small town in northwestern São Paulo. A household survey was undertaken to assess the prevalence and epidemiological characteristi...
journal_title:International journal of epidemiology
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1093/ije/21.1.169
更新日期:1992-02-01 00:00:00
abstract::To develop a procedure for maximizing the discrimination of smoking status, the authors analysed parallel samples of thiocyanate and cotinine in serum, and carbon monoxide (CO) in expired air in a cohort of 145 male subjects aged 45-65 years. The sensitivity and specificity were 93% and 82%, 97% and 83%, and 98% and 1...
journal_title:International journal of epidemiology
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1093/ije/21.3.488
更新日期:1992-06-01 00:00:00
abstract::In this study, we derive national estimates of the prevalence of children's exposure to parental smoking in West Germany. The estimates are based on a national health survey conducted in 1987 and refer to those parents living in the same household as the child. Estimated prevalences of maternal smoking range from 18.9...
journal_title:International journal of epidemiology
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1093/ije/22.5.818
更新日期:1993-10-01 00:00:00
abstract::An analysis is made of the association between density factors and the profile of cause specific death rates in small areas (Bezirke) of Hannover, Germany, in 1968-69. Evaluation of urban ecological methods and logic is done to determine the plausibility of making meaningful statements about cause specific death risks...
journal_title:International journal of epidemiology
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1093/ije/6.3.203
更新日期:1977-09-01 00:00:00
abstract:BACKGROUND:Maternal co-infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has been implicated as a potentially important co-factor for enhanced vertical transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV). In previous reports, however, methodological issues (notably small sample sizes) have limited accurate evaluation of the contri...
journal_title:International journal of epidemiology
pub_type: 杂志文章,meta分析,评审
doi:10.1093/ije/dyg107
更新日期:2003-10-01 00:00:00
abstract:BACKGROUND:Smoking increases the risk of squamous-cell carcinoma of the cervix, but it is not clear whether smoking increases the risk of acquisition or persistence of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. METHODS:Information on smoking was collected from 10 areas in four continents among population-based, age-stratif...
journal_title:International journal of epidemiology
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1093/ije/dyn033
更新日期:2008-06-01 00:00:00
abstract::The Themba Lethu Clinical Cohort was established in 2004 to allow large patient-level analyses from a single HIV treatment site to evaluate National Treatment Guidelines, answer questions of national and international policy relevance and to combine an economic and epidemiologic focus on HIV research. The current obje...
journal_title:International journal of epidemiology
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1093/ije/dys029
更新日期:2013-04-01 00:00:00
abstract:BACKGROUND:Ready-made spectacles (RMS) have advantages; however, visual performance and satisfaction has not been evaluated. METHODS:A 1-month, double-masked, randomized clinical trial comparing planned continued use and visual performance of RMS to Custom Spectacles (CS) in adults aged 18-45 years with > or =1 diopte...
journal_title:International journal of epidemiology
pub_type: 杂志文章,随机对照试验
doi:10.1093/ije/dyp384
更新日期:2010-06-01 00:00:00
abstract::This paper contains part of the results of a repetitive and comprehensive analysis of accidents among bus drivers. In a series of articles different aspects of the aetiology of bus drivers' accidents will be highlighted. The results presented indicate a strong negative association of experience with accident risk, mod...
journal_title:International journal of epidemiology
pub_type: 杂志文章
doi:10.1093/ije/16.1.35
更新日期:1987-03-01 00:00:00