Strader C H, Weiss N S, Daling J R
Hanford Environmental Health Foundation, Richland, WA.
Am J Epidemiol. 1988 Jul;128(1):56-63. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a114958.
Adult male residents of 13 counties of western Washington state in whom testicular cancer had been diagnosed during 1977-1983 (n = 333) were interviewed over the telephone regarding their history of genital tract conditions, including vasectomy. For comparison, the same interview was given to a sample of 729 men selected from the population of these counties by dialing telephone numbers at random. A higher proportion of cases than controls reported having had a vasectomy (relative risk = 1.5, 95 per cent confidence interval = 1.0-2.2). However, the association was restricted entirely to Catholic men. Whereas a history of vasectomy was reported with approximately equal frequency by Catholic and non-Catholic cases, only 6.3 per cent of Catholic controls reported such a history in contrast to 19.7 per cent of other controls. While the authors cannot rule out the possibility that there is a true difference of the effect of vasectomy on the incidence of testicular cancer as a function of religion, it seems more plausible that selective underreporting by Catholic controls has produced a spurious relation.
对1977年至1983年期间在华盛顿州西部13个县被诊断患有睾丸癌的成年男性居民（n = 333）进行了电话访谈，询问他们包括输精管切除术在内的生殖道疾病史。作为对照，通过随机拨打这些县的电话号码，从这些县的人群中选取了729名男性作为样本进行相同的访谈。报告进行过输精管切除术的病例比例高于对照组（相对风险 = 1.5，95%置信区间 = 1.0 - 2.2）。然而，这种关联完全局限于天主教男性。天主教和非天主教病例报告输精管切除术史的频率大致相同，而只有6.3%的天主教对照组报告有此病史，相比之下，其他对照组的这一比例为19.7%。虽然作者不能排除输精管切除术对睾丸癌发病率的影响因宗教信仰而存在真正差异的可能性，但天主教对照组的选择性漏报导致了一种虚假关系似乎更合理。
