Department of Translational Medicine, Unit of Medical Statistics and Cancer Epidemiology, University of Eastern Piedmont, CPO-Piedmont, 28100 Novara, Italy.
Department of Medical Sciences, Unit of Cancer Epidemiology, CPO Piemonte and University of Turin, 10126 Turin, Italy.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Aug 24;17(17):6146. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17176146.
Nonparticipation limits the power of epidemiological studies, and can cause bias. In a case-control study on pleural malignant mesothelioma (MM), we found low participation in interviews (63%) among controls. Our goal was to characterize nonresponder controls and assess nonresponse bias in our study. We selected all nonresponder controls (204) and a random sample of responder controls (174). Data were obtained linking hospital admissions and town registrars, and concordance between sources was assessed. Nonresponse bias was evaluated using a logistic regression model applying the inverse probability weighting approach. The odds ratio (OR) for the status of the respondents was 0.61 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.33-1.16) for controls aged 61-70, 0.37 (CI: 0.20-0.66) for those aged 71-80, and 0.40 (CI: 0.20-0.80) for those aged above 80 (reference group: ≤60 years). Controls with low education level had lower OR (0.47; CI: 0.26-0.84). After adjustment, the ORs for MM by categories of cumulative exposure to asbestos were similar to the unadjusted results, ranging from 4.6 (CI: 1.8-11.7) for cumulative exposures between 0.1 and 1 f/mL-y to 57.5 (CI: 20.2-163.9) above 10 f/mL-y. Responder controls were younger and had higher education level. Nevertheless, there was little evidence of bias from nonresponse in the risk estimates of MM.
不参与限制了流行病学研究的效力，并可能导致偏倚。在一项关于胸膜恶性间皮瘤（MM）的病例对照研究中，我们发现对照组的访谈参与率较低（63%）。我们的目标是描述未应答者对照组的特征，并评估我们研究中的无应答偏倚。我们选择了所有未应答者对照组（204 名）和应答者对照组的随机样本（174 名）。通过医院就诊和城镇登记员的数据链接，并评估了来源之间的一致性。使用逆概率加权方法的逻辑回归模型评估了无应答偏倚。对于年龄在 61-70 岁、71-80 岁和 81 岁以上的对照组，应答者状态的比值比（OR）分别为 0.61（95%置信区间（CI）：0.33-1.16）、0.37（CI：0.20-0.66）和 0.40（CI：0.20-0.80）（参考组：≤60 岁）。教育水平较低的对照组的 OR 较低（0.47；CI：0.26-0.84）。调整后，石棉累积暴露量分类的 MM 的 OR 与未调整的结果相似，范围从累积暴露量在 0.1 至 1 f/mL-y 之间的 4.6（CI：1.8-11.7）到累积暴露量超过 10 f/mL-y 的 57.5（CI：20.2-163.9）。应答者对照组年龄较小，教育水平较高。然而，在 MM 的风险估计中，无应答偏倚的证据很少。
