Xu, Hui
(2010)
COMPARISON BETWEEN RESPONDENTS AND NON-RESPONDENTS IN A NESTED CASE-CONTROL STUDY OF BRAIN TUMORS.
Master's Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to identify characteristics of non-respondents and estimate the potential non-response bias by comparing the respondents with non-respondents from a nested case-control study of brain tumors. The nested case-control study was conducted in eight Pratt & Whitney plants in Connecticut. Information about demographic and some work related variables of 239 cases and 116 controls who responded to an interview, as well as 483 cases and 604 controls who did not respond were obtained from the plant records. Pearson's chi-square test was used to test whether these common known variables were differently distributed between respondents and non-respondents by case-control status. There were no differences detected between the respondents and the non-respondents in the control group. However, significant distribution differences were identified between the case respondents and the case non-respondents with respect to the variables: age at hire, age at termination, and duration of time worked. Multivariate logistic regression was conducted to specify which variables were significantly associated with non-response. The probability of being a non-respondent in the case group was significantly associated with age at hire and age at termination. Furthermore, case-control status, age at hire, and duration of time worked were significant predictors for being a non-respondent in the whole dataset. In addition, the non-response biases in brain tumor risk associated with age at hire and age at termination were calculated by comparing risk among respondents and all subjects. The bias varied from -9% to 43%, indicating that difference between the respondents and the non-respondents may result in a large bias in the risk estimate for brain tumors in the nested case-control study. Our study has great public health relevance because survey data with low response rate could undermine the results of a case-control study of some exposure of interest and a specific disease, or worse lead to erroneous conclusions.
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Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
|
| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
|
| ETD Committee: |
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| Date: |
27 January 2010 |
| Date Type: |
Completion |
| Defense Date: |
10 December 2009 |
| Approval Date: |
27 January 2010 |
| Submission Date: |
3 December 2009 |
| Access Restriction: |
5 year -- Restrict access to University of Pittsburgh for a period of 5 years. |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
School of Public Health > Biostatistics |
| Degree: |
MS - Master of Science |
| Thesis Type: |
Master's Thesis |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
logistic regression; non-response bias; Pearson's Chi-square test; case-control study; response rate |
| Other ID: |
http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-12032009-175645/, etd-12032009-175645 |
| Date Deposited: |
10 Nov 2011 20:07 |
| Last Modified: |
19 Dec 2016 14:37 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/10003 |
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