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Assessing the Quality of Case-Control Studies: EMFs and Childhood Leukemia

Assessing the Quality of Case-Control Studies: EMFs and Childhood Leukemia. By: Sandy Hayre Dr. William Bailey Meghan Wagner Exponent. Epidemiology.

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Assessing the Quality of Case-Control Studies: EMFs and Childhood Leukemia

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  1. Assessing the Quality of Case-Control Studies: EMFs and Childhood Leukemia By: Sandy Hayre Dr. William Bailey Meghan Wagner Exponent

  2. Epidemiology • Epidemiology- the study of the frequency and distribution of disease and health in human populations, and the factors that contribute to disease and health events • There are several types of studies used in epidemiology: • Clinical trial • Prospective cohort • Retrospective cohort • Case-control- compares persons without a disease (controls) to persons with a disease (cases) to see if they differ on any factors or exposures of interest

  3. Quality of Case-control Studies • Studies of higher quality should receive more weight when asking the question: “Does this exposure cause this disease?” • Factors that affect the validity of a case-control study: • Bias • Chance • Confounding • Study design • Exposure assessment

  4. Objective • Objective: To evaluate the quality of case-control studies that deal with exposure to electric and magnetic fields (EMFs) and childhood leukemia • We gathered all case-control studies on EMFs and childhood leukemia through an extensive search and assessed them individually

  5. Electric and Magnetic Fields • Anything that generates, transmits or uses electricity produces electric and magnetic fields • Electric Fields- the result of voltages applied to electrical conductors and equipment • Magnetic Fields-produced by the flow of electric currents

  6. Methods: Assessing EMF and Childhood Leukemia Case-Control Studies • Factors evaluated in each study: • Case/control source population • Case/control ascertainment • Case/control inclusion criteria • Case/control exclusion criteria • Matching variables • Case/control participation rate • Number of cases/controls used in analysis after exclusions • Exposure assessment

  7. Future Agenda • Use collected data to determine which studies should be weighed more heavily than others • Determine what the most effective approach is to evaluating case-control studies: • Checklist • Numerical ranking system

  8. References • National Health and Medical Research Council, (1999).How to review the evidence: systematic identification and review of the scientific literature. • Liddle, J, Williamson, M, & Irwig, L (December 1996). Method for evaluating research guideline evidence. NSW Health. • Task Force on Community Preventive Services, (2000).Data collection instrument and procedure for systematic reviews in the Guide to Community Preventive Services. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 18, • Exponent, (2006). Section 23 Human Health Assessment.

  9. Acknowledgments Dr. William Bailey Meghan Wagner Exponent Dr. Sat Bhattacharya Harlem Children’s Society Thank you all for listening!

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