Epi & biostats (p122 RHS-p124)- part 2

Question 1

what is standardization (1)

Answer 1

1- method of adjustment used to remove the effect of a characteristic responsible for the differences in comparison, e.g., age and sex

Question 2

what is direct standardization (1)

Answer 2

1- used when stratum-specific numbers/rates for two populations are known (e.g., number of deaths in each age group for two populations)

Question 3

what is indirect standardization (1)

Answer 3

1- only overall numbers/rates for two or more populations are known (e.g. overall number of deaths for two populations)

Question 4

what is direct standardization good for (1)

Answer 4

1- Descriptive purposes, comparison across studies

Question 5

what value is calculated from direct standardization (1)

Answer 5

1- age-standardized mortality rate (ASMR)

Question 6

what is indirect standardization good for (1)

Answer 6

1- Rare or small event rates in study population

Question 7

what value is calculated from indirect standardization (1)

Answer 7

1- standardized mortality ratio (SMR)

Question 8

what is descriptive statistics (1)

Answer 8

1- summarizing data, describe basic features of a sample

Question 9

what is statistical inference (1)

Answer 9

1- generalizing from a sample to the population; inferring meaning from the sample data

Question 10

what are the types of categorical variables (2)

Answer 10

1- nominal
2- ordinal

Question 11

what is a nominal variable (1)

Answer 11

1- categories without any numerical ranking (country of residence, gender, blood type)

Question 12

what is an ordinal variable (1)

Answer 12

1- categories that can be ranked/ordered but are not necessarily evenly spaced (e.g., Likert scale, cancer staging)

Question 13

what are the types of numerical variables (2)

Answer 13

1- discrete
2- continuous

Question 14

what is a discrete variable (1)

Answer 14

1- countable sets with meaningful distances between numbers (e.g. number of smokers)

Question 15

what is a continuous variable (1)

Answer 15

1- continuously varying quantities

Question 16

what are the types of continuous variables (2)

Answer 16

1- interval variables
2- ratio variables

Question 17

what is an interval variable (1)

Answer 17

1- measured on a scale of equally spaced units, but without a true zero point (date of birth)

Question 18

what is a ratio variable (1)

Answer 18

1- measured on a scale of equally spaced units and has a true zero point (height)

Question 19

in indirect standardization, how do you calculate standardized mortality rate (SMR) (1)

Answer 19

1-
SMR = observed deaths / expected deaths

Question 20

in indirect standardization, how do you calculate adjusted mortality rates (AMR) (1)

Answer 20

1-
AMR = SMR x crude death rate (from a standard)