Comprehensive Epilepsy Centre, Division of Neurology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Centre, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
Indian J Pediatr. 2012 Nov;79(11):1482-8. doi: 10.1007/s12098-012-0763-3. Epub 2012 May 6.
Estimation of appropriate sample size for prevalence surveys presents many challenges, particularly when the condition is very rare or has a tendency for geographical clustering. Sample size estimate for prevalence studies is a function of expected prevalence and precision for a given level of confidence expressed by the z statistic. Choice of the appropriate values for these variables is sometimes not straight-forward. Certain other situations do not fulfil the assumptions made in the conventional equation and present a special challenge. These situations include, but are not limited to, smaller population size in relation to sample size, sampling technique or missing data. This paper discusses practical issues in sample size estimation for prevalence studies with an objective to help clinicians and healthcare researchers make more informed decisions whether reviewing or conducting such a study.
对于患病率调查来说，合适的样本量估计会带来很多挑战，尤其是当疾病非常罕见或存在地理聚集倾向时。患病率研究的样本量估计是预期患病率和精度的函数，精度是由 z 统计量表示的置信度水平的函数。这些变量的适当值的选择有时并不简单。某些其他情况不符合常规方程的假设，因此提出了一个特殊的挑战。这些情况包括但不限于与样本量相比人口规模较小、采样技术或缺失数据。本文讨论了患病率研究中样本量估计的实际问题，旨在帮助临床医生和医疗保健研究人员在审查或进行此类研究时做出更明智的决策。
