Statistics Flashcards
How do you calculate NNT?
1/ ARR
(Absolute risk reduction)
How do you calculate ARR (Absolute risk reduction)?
ARR = ARC- ART.
(Absolute risk in controls - absolute risk in treatment)
ARR = Event rate in control group - event rate in experimental group
How do you calculate a mortality rate?
Deaths / number in the group
What is the best definition of a cohort study?
A cohort study follows a group of people over time, looking at a specific outcome (e.g. death) and whether exposure to a given risk factor (e.g. smoking) contributes to that outcome
How do you decide if a study or overall finding is significant in a box plot?
Does the whiskers (Confidence interval) cross the HR = 1 line
(Or the corners of the diamond if overall)
How do you measure hetero or homogenicity in a meta analysis?
Higgins I2
What Higgins I2 values would suggest:
a) Homogenicity
b) Statistically significant heterogenicity
a) Perfect homogenicity would be an I2 value of 0%
b) Significant statistical heterogeneity is often considered to be present if I2 is over 50%
How do you calculate odds ratio?
Odds of event in exposure group / odds of exposure in control group
So (event in exposure group/ non-event in exposure group ) / (events in controls/ non-events in controls)
How do you calculate sensitivity?
True positive / True positive + false negative
OR written another way
True positive results / All who have the disease
How do you calculate specificity?
True negative / True negative + false positive
True negatives results / All who don’t have the disease
How do you calculate positive predictive value?
True positives / all positive results
(True positive / true positive + false positive)
How do you calculate negative predictive value?
True negatives / all negatives
(True negative / true negative + false negative)
What is positive likehood ratio and how do you calculate it?
Compares odds of having disease if test positive vs. odds of having at baseline
(So a PLR of 2 means you are twice as likely to have a true positive if the test was positive compared to baseline population)
How do you calculate positive likehood ratio?
Sensitivity / 1-specificity
How do you calculate negative likehood ratio?
1- Sensativity / Specificity
Name two qualitative statistical techniques?
Delphi method - Expert opinion taken from several rounds of questionnaires
Ethnography - Study of social interactions by interview or observation in participant own environment
What are two alternative names for a pilot study?
Feasability or vanguard study
Small scale used before larger study, helps to test ideas
What is action research?
Done by the person who will use the results to improve their own service
Name 2 descriptive and 3 analytical types of observation studies?
Descriptive:
- Case report or case series
Analytical:
- Cohort
- Case control
- Cross-sectional
What is a case control study?
Retrospective
- Looks back to the past to dervive patterns
What is the main way to distinguish between case control, cross-sectional and cohort studies?
Case control - Retrospective, look at groups in the past
Cross sectional - Current perspective, snapshot in time now
Cohort - Prospective, follow two groups into the future
What is the main thing measured by case-control studies?
Odds radio
(looks at groups (with and without disease) and then works out OR of different exposures
Main disadvantage of case control study?
Recall bias
Also can’t do causation
Main disadvantages of cohort studies?
Time consuming and expensive
(lots of resource to follow up risk groups)
What is the main thing measured by cohort studies?
Risk ratio (RR)
Looks at outcomes of groups with different exposures over time
When would a cross-sectional study be used?
To assess prevalence at one point in time
What is recall bias?
Disease status of subject affects liklihood of recalling exposure
What is sampling bias?
Some members of population more likely to be sampled than others
What is lead time bias?
Lead time bias occurs when two tests for a disease are compared and although one of the tests diagnoses the disease earlier, this does not translate in to a survival benefit
Only results in an earlier diagnosis (so mortality not affected, morbidity may increase as patient has to live with knowledge for longer)
What is late-look bias?
When information is gather at inappropriate time, important to consider for fatal diseases
What is the hawthorne effect?
Study group changes their behaviour because they are being studies
What is the pygmalion effect?
High expecatons of treatment lead to improved performance and changes in the outcome
What is the incidence of a disease?
Rate of new cases over given time period
New cases/ population
What is the prevalence of disease?
Total number disease cases at a specific time
All cases/ population
How do you summise the difference between incidence and prevalence?
Prevalence = all cases