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Prevalence and Risk Factors
Published in Jennifer Doley, Mary J. Marian, Adult Malnutrition, 2023
Many malnutrition research studies focus on specific diagnoses or age groups, and some may not report data on certain demographic factors, such as subjects’ race and ethnicity. It is therefore difficult to extrapolate these prevalence and risk data to all populations. Assessment of risk factors is especially challenging, as most studies only identify factors that are associated with malnutrition. As association does not signify causation, it is unclear if these factors cause or result from malnutrition, or both. While statistical analyses in some research may consider confounding variables, some do not. Lastly, some risk factors may influence or be related to others.9
Data Analysis Plan
Published in Lisa Chasan-Taber, Writing Grant Proposals in Epidemiology, Preventive Medicine, and Biostatistics, 2022
Often, there is confusion between confounding and effect modification. Confounding variables are considered nuisance factors that can be reduced via study design techniques and with careful multivariable modeling. In contrast, effect modifiers should be highlighted as they represent groups within which there is a different mechanistic (e.g., physiologic or behavioral) association between your exposure and outcome variables.
Psychoneuroimmunology, Stress and Disease
Published in Herman Friedman, Thomas W. Klein, Andrea L. Friedman, Psychoneuroimmunology, Stress, and Infection, 2020
Michael Schlesinger, Yair Yodfat
How people react to stress is a very complicated issue. Some stressors have an adverse effect on the individual while other stressors can even be health- or growth-promoting. Most retrospectively designed human studies in the area of psychoneuroimmunology link disease with “bad” stressors such as depression, loneliness, and hopelessness. Unresolved conceptual issues related to stress include the following problems: can stressors be chronic, unchanging conditions rather than events? Must all stressors be perceived as undesirable or distressing? Are certain physiologic processes specific to the stress process?7 Life event instruments are complicated by considerable methodological problems and in many retrospective studies, there are serious reporting biases. There are many confounding variables like age, sex, socioeconomic status and concomitant illnesses. In most studies, a very small (less than 5% of the variance) linear correlation could be demonstrated between life event scores and subsequent illness.8,9
Daytime contacts and general practitioner consultations, and pain as a reason for encounter in children with cerebral palsy; a Norwegian national registry linkage study
Published in Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care, 2022
Selma Mujezinović Larsen, Torunn Bjerve Eide, Cathrine Brunborg, Kjersti Ramstad
This study has some limitations. First, we did not have information on mortality rate, emigration or parental socio-economic status. Other confounding variables may exist. Second, the data was too large to allow for longitudinal comparison on frequencies of daytime contacts and consultations on individual level among controls. Third, ICPC-2 uses the wording ‘symptom/complaint’ and seldom ‘pain’ in chapter L Musculoskeletal. We assumed that pain is the most common complaint/symptom in this organ system and therefore the most relevant reason for encounter with a GP. Further, information on frequent consulters among cases might have influenced our findings. This is a topic for future studies. Another topic for future research is GPs’ attitudes and knowledge regarding follow-up of children with chronic conditions such as CP. Collaboration between the multidisciplinary specialist team and GPs should be addressed in future research.
Level of agreement and acceptance of the 20-Minute versus 60-Minute sanitary pad test as a method for measuring the severity of stress urinary incontinence: randomised crossover trial
Published in Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 2022
Kadek Fajar Marta, Fernandi Moegni
The current study has several strengths. The 20-minute sanitary pad test is a relatively new test method and has not yet been validated in terms of its suitability compared with the 60-minute sanitary pad test. Evaluation of the degree of conformity is needed to enable wider use of this test in clinical practice, particularly in the Indonesian population. In terms of methodology, this conformity test included participants’ perceptions regarding the sanitary pad test. This is an important aspect of evaluation because the sanitary pad test is performed while patients are fully conscious, requiring patient cooperation. The levels of cooperation and participant satisfaction are considered important factors in the accuracy of the results obtained. Our study design would eliminate confounding variables. Furthermore, patient comfort helps enhance patient-physician cooperation. It should be highlighted that the number of participants willing to repeat the 20-minute sanitary pad test each month was twice that for the 60-minute sanitary pad test (46% versus 20%). An important limitation of the current study is that the accuracy of the 20-minute sanitary pad test could not be determined because there is currently no gold standard for measuring the severity of SUI, for comparison.
Dietary Carbohydrate Intake Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load and the Risk of Prostate Cancer among Iranian Men: A Case-Control Study
Published in Nutrition and Cancer, 2022
Zeinab Alboghobeish, Farinaz Hosseini Balam, Faezeh Askari, Bahram Rashidkhani
We must be interpreted the findings in the context of the study limitations. Firstly, the dietary assessment method used in this study was FFQ, although this is designed to estimate the total carbohydrate and energy intake, the GI and GL detection range is limited due to the limited variety of food items in FFQ. Secondly, the calculation of GI/GL from FFQ may not accurately indicate the glycemic responses of the individual foods or consuming mixed meals and prepared foods. Furthermore, some FFQ measurement errors may affect outcomes such as recall bias, dietary changes over time, and underestimation of diet among cases due to a higher rate of obesity that cannot be ignored. While we controlled lots of the existence of confounding variables in research, however, some of them are uncontrollable and we cannot rule out. Another type of limitation to consider is that due to the lack of insulin serum we cannot examine the association between serum insulin levels and GI/GL diets. Finally, the small sample size of our study should be mentioned as another weakness than prior studies.