Epidemiological Practices in Research on Small Effects

✍ Scribed by Hans Hoffmeister (auth.), Professor Dr. Hans Hoffmeister, Professor Dr. Moyses Szklo, Michael Thamm (eds.)

• Publisher: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 132
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

In modern societies, epidemiology is increasingly confronted with the detection and evaluation of small risks, especially from environmental exposures and various lifestyles. The question arises, if for example, the risks from residential magnetic field exposure and childhood leukaemia, or dietry fat intake and breast cancer are real, or if they can safely be considered as artefacts, as a consequence of methodological limits of epidemiology? More and more conflicting results are produced and are putting the general public in a state of uncertainty, which, if public pressure is strong enough, might result in political action without the required sound scientific justification. Therefore, strategies have to be developed, to minimise the "noise" in epidemiological studies, in order to get a clearer picture of the real influencing factors, and to reduce the chance of false results. Based on an international conference on this topic, attended by some of the world's leading epidemiologists, this book is presenting an overview of the main difficulties researchers might encounter when studying small risks. It is also offering recommendations on how to proceed when small risks are under study in order to avoid spurious results.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages i-viii
Small effects as a main problem in epidemiology....Pages 1-4
Obstacles in evaluating small effects....Pages 5-6
Towards good epidemiological practices....Pages 7-16
Problems in detecting small effects in case-control and cohort studies....Pages 17-23
Proposals and recommendations concerning small effects in case-control and cohort studies....Pages 25-29
Comments on problems with small effects in case-control and cohort studies....Pages 31-31
Small effects and the selection of study participants in case-control and cohort studies....Pages 33-37
Commentary on small effects and the selection of study participants in case-control and cohort studies....Pages 39-43
Confounding: Its role in weak associations....Pages 45-54
Commentary on confounding: Examples of its influence in weak associations....Pages 55-58
Bias in observational studies....Pages 59-69
Research strategies for assessing epidemiolgic associations, in relation to the distribution and measurement of exposures....Pages 71-79
Commentary on “Bias in observational studies”....Pages 81-86
Small effects: Subgroup analysis and interaction....Pages 87-91
Enhancing Small Risks in Epidemiologic Studies....Pages 93-97
Is meta-analysis a valid approach to the evaluation of small effects?....Pages 99-112
Commentary on meta-analysis....Pages 113-118
Discussion remarks on meta-analysis....Pages 119-120
Publication bias....Pages 121-126
Concluding remarks....Pages 127-132

✦ Subjects

Cancer Research; Human Genetics; Molecular Medicine; Medicine/Public Health, general; Life Sciences, general