Research & Epidemiology Flashcards
Elements of foreground questions for specific knowledge to inform clinical decisions or actions:
PICO letters stand for:
P: Patient or population. The first step in the PICO process is to identify the patients or population to be studied. More specifically, it describes patients‟ characteristics, such as age, gender, disease status, or any other patientrelated characteristic.
I: Intervention to be tested. Identifying the intervention is the second step in the PICO process. It is important to identify the exposure intended to be studied in the research project. This may include the use of a specific diagnostic test, treatment, adjunctive therapy, medication, etc.
C: Comparison used in the research project. It is the alternative exposure to which the intervention will be compared, which might be the standard of care or a placebo. The comparison component is the only optional one in the PICO question, since the researcher might study the intervention alone because either due to no interest in comparison or the lack of a comparable group.
O: Outcome to be measured as a result of the intervention. It is the evaluation of the intervention‟s effect. This may include cure or level of control of a disease, efficacy of a medication or a diagnostic test, etc.
Odd ratio used in which study ?
Odd ratio for
case-control but if difference is small, odds ratio will be useful for all (cohort,RCT,case-control)
Sensitivity equation:
True Positives/(true positives + false negatives)
False Positive Rate:
1 − specificity
False Negative Rate:
1 − sensitivity
Specificity equation:
True Negatives/(true negatives + false positives)
Positive Predictive Value:
True Positive/(true positive + false positive)
Negative Predictive Value:
True Negative/(true negative + false negative)
What is the best design you choose to study the
prevalence of a disease?
Cross sectional study
What is the best trial design to study the incidence of
a disease?
Cohort study
Which of the following studies is considered a gold
standard for analytical epidemiology?
Cohort study
A critical appraisal of a RCT takes into consideration the followings:
A- Randomization
B- Blinding
C- Precision of the estimate (CI)
D- Benefice versus harm
In External validity to check the Applicability of results to your patients several Issues needed to consider before deciding to incorporate research evidence into clinical practice which are …
- Similarity of study population to your population
- Benefit versus harm
- Patients preferences
- Availability
- Costs
The best type of study to evaluate a therapy or screening ?
Clinical trials
The best type of study for diagnostic accuracy?
Clinical trials and cross sectionals
The best type of study for prognosis?
Clinical trials (placebo arm of RCT) and cohort study
The best type of studies to evaluate the harm ?
Clinical trials and cohort study and case-control.
The best type of studies to study the etiology ?
Cohort studies and case control.
Likelihood ratio (LR+):
Sensitivity/1-specificity
(If the result is = or > 10 that means that test post test probability is higher and most likely they had the disease)
more likely a test result is to be found in the “diseased.”
Likelihood ratio (LR-):
1-Sensitivity/specificity
(if likelihood less than 0.2 that means the test role out the disease with high post-test propability)
less likely a test result is to be found in the “diseased.”
Each Outcome has five elements:
- Domain
- Specific measurement(s)
- Specific metric(s)
- Method(s) of aggregation
- Time point(s)
Pragmatic trials are
designed to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions in real-life routine practice conditions, whereas explanatory trials aim to test whether an intervention works under optimal situations. Pragmatic trials produce results that can be generalized and applied in routine practice settings.
Verification bias seen in
Cross sectional
verification bias is
type of measurement bias in which the results of a diagnostic test affect whether the gold standard procedure is used to verify the test result.
(sometimes referred to as “work-up bias”) occurs during investigations of diagnostic test accuracy when there is a difference in testing strategy between groups of individuals, leading to differing ways of verifying the disease of interest.
Publication bias
the failure to publish the results of a study “on the basis of the direction or strength of the study findings
To calculate NNT
NNT (number needed to treat)=1/ ARR
To calculate Absolute risk reduction (ARR) – also called risk difference (RD) –
= ARC - ART
ARC= the AR of events in the control group
ART= the AR of events in the treatment group
RR (relative risk)=
ART / ARC
RRR (relative risk reduction)=
(ARC – ART) / ARC
RRR= 1 – RR
AR (absolute risk)=
the number of events (good or bad) in treated or control groups, divided by the number of people in that group.
If the RR (the relative risk) or the OR (the odds ratio) = 1, or the CI (the confidence interval) cross the line of unity, what does that mean ?
then there is no significant difference between treatment and control groups.
If the RR >1, and the CI does not include 1, events are significantly more likely in the treatment than the control group.
If the RR <1, and the CI does not include 1, events are significantly less likely in the treatment than the control group.
How to check for publication bias
funnel plot can be used to examine whether ESs from smaller studies show more variability than those from larger studies.
(Can be checked only by logistic regression and eager ??)
If there is no bias, 95% of studies should lie within the triangle a. A larger sample size increases precision so small studies will be scattered widely at the base of the triangle whereas larger studies (more powerful) will be at the top and have a narrow spread.
Funnel plots should be symmetric in the absence of study heterogeneity and publication bias