statistical terminology Flashcards
Attributable risk
how much greater frequency of disease is in exposed group compared to non-exposed group
assuming exposure is casual
attributable risk =
incidence in exposed-incidence in non-exposed
excess fraction =
incidence in exposed/incidence in non-exposed
case
an individual with the outcome under study (have disease/illness/event)
not same as clinical definition
count
number of cases that occurred in a population
useful in planning services, not for comparison
chi squared test
statistical procedure fro determining if 2 proportions are similar
cohort study
study where individuals are chosen on basis of exposure and followed over a period of time to allow occurrence of the exposure of interest
produces relative risk
confidence interval
an estimated range of values calculated from a given set of sample data which are likely to contain the true population value
relative risk - cannot include 1
difference - 0?
confounding
possible explanation for study finding if confounding variables have not been taken into account
confounding variable
a factor associated with exposure and outcome of interest
control
person without the outcome of interest or not receiving the intervention
exposure
people come in contact with something hypothesised to have an effect on health - risk factors
incidence
number of new cases of outcome of interest occurring in a defined population over a defined period of time
can be interpreted as probability that the individual will develop the disease in a given time
matching
method for controlling for the effect of confounding at design stage of case control - controls have similar distribution of confounding factors to cases
normal distribution
set of values and frequencies that describe many things - symmetrical distribution is foundation of many statistical tests because if know sd and mean - can draw every point on the curve
null hypothesis
first stage in performing a statistical test
states there is no difference in the groups or that the rates are equal - relative risk = 1
odds ratio = 1 in case control study
rejected if the confidence interval doesn’t include the value expected under null ie 1 for RR or OR
for normally distributed groups - reject the null hypothesis if 0 - no difference between averages
odds
way to express probability
odds ratio =
odds of exposure in exposed/odds exposure in controls
odds in terms of probability =
probability/(1-probability)
odds ratio
for case control studies
ratio between 2 odds
good estimate of relative risk - which cant be measured because we don’t know incidence
1 - exposure no more likely in case or control
>1 exposure more likely in case - increase risk of disease
<1 exposure more likely in control - protective
outcome
event or main quantity of interest in a particular study
population attributable risk
population excess risk - measure of risk of outcome in study population attributable to the exposure of interest
population excess fraction
population attributable fraction
measure of proportion (fraction) of cases observed in study population attributable to exposure of interest
prevalence
number of cases of an outcome of interest in a defined population at a particular point in time - point prevalence
includes new and existing cases