Pasternack B S, Shore R E
Am J Epidemiol. 1982 May;115(5):778-84. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a113359.
This paper proposes the use of group sequential methods to calculate sample sizes for individually matched case-control study designs. A table is presented in which the average sample size required for a group sequential (i.e., multistage) matched pair design is compared to that of the conventional matched pair fixed sample size plan for the usual constant relative risk situation. The table shows that group sequential designs are in general more efficient than fixed sample size plans. Computer simulations showed that group sequential methods yield the appropriate type I and type II error rates not only for matching on a one-to-one basis, but also more generally with multiple matched controls per case. Further simulation studies indicated that there may be only a small loss of power when the matching variable(s) is associated with the probability of exposure but not with the disease. This is shown for both the multistage and fixed sample tests.
本文提出使用序贯分组方法来计算个体匹配病例对照研究设计的样本量。文中给出了一个表格，其中将序贯分组（即多阶段）匹配对设计所需的平均样本量与常规匹配对固定样本量计划在通常恒定相对风险情况下所需的平均样本量进行了比较。该表格表明，序贯分组设计总体上比固定样本量计划更有效。计算机模拟显示，序贯分组方法不仅在一对一匹配时能产生合适的I型和II型错误率，而且在更一般的情况下，即每个病例有多个匹配对照时也能如此。进一步的模拟研究表明，当匹配变量与暴露概率相关但与疾病无关时，可能只会有较小的检验效能损失。这在多阶段检验和固定样本量检验中均有体现。
