Biostatistics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Biostatistics - Essay Example From our calculation, our odds ratio is skewed in nature and therefore it is not possible to make a direct calculation of the standard error. We have a 95% confidence level and the population odds ratio for heart disease associated with smokers lies within 1.21 (an increased odd of 1.21 fold) and 1.99 (an increased odd of 1.99) fold. When a confidence interval does not include the value of 1, we know that the odds of the measured outcome are different for both attributes even without a significance test. In this case, the confidence interval does not contain value 1.0, hence there is significant association between smoking and heart disease. The Odd’s ratio is 1.55, the smokers are having 1.55 times more risk of having heart disease on the other hand, the risk ratio is 1.2939, means for smokers there is 29.39% more chance to having risk of heart disease. Both the confidence intervals do not contain the value 1, hence the results of both Odd’s ratio and risk ratio are significant. Observe that for both Odd’s ratio and Risk ratio, the p value is 0, hence both the measures are equally significant. The odds ratio value is skewed and therefore it is not possible to directly calculate the standard error of the statistics. The no difference value for this statistics is 1 and therefore when a confidence interval includes the value of 1, we know that the odds of the measured outcome are the same even without a significance test. To evaluate the p value, we can use the chi-square approach but in this case, it is not appropriate therefore it would be proper to use Fisher’s exact solution. Odd’s ratio is preferred in case of a nested control study because it is an efficient method of analysis in terms of both time and cost. It also makes it possible to investigate a wide range of possible risk factors. Odd’s ratio is also particularly suitable to investigate rare diseases with a long induction period. Odd ratio is also preferred because it a