Essay 7312MED: Principles and Practices – Report Writing – Epidemiology Assignment Help

Assignment Task:

Assignment 2 Questions
Read the paper by Bond, Egan, Kearns, Clark and Tannahill (2012) (required reading) and answer the following questions.

1. What type of epidemiological study design was used in this study?  Identify two key features of this type of design in the study? (2 marks) 

2. The authors have established two research questions (p.300) in relation to their research aims. According to these 2 questions, state two research hypotheses. 

3. What is the study factor and how was this factor measured

4. What is/are outcome factor(s)? (1 mark) How was the factor/ were the factors measured?
 

5. Do the main findings presented in Table 2 suggest any significant association between the study factor and the outcome factor? (1 mark) What do the results suggest? Use the OR and 95%CI values to justify your response.

6. Identify the possible source(s) of selection bias that might have been introduced into the study?  What effects could this bias have had on the observed association between the study factor and the outcome factor(s)? Provide reasoning to support your answers. 

7. How could information bias have influenced the results (measured associations)? Discuss your view briefly. 

8. How have the authors addressed the issue of confounding? (1 mark) What are the potential confounders identified by the authors? With regard to Table 2, have the
confounding factors influenced the association between the study factor and the outcome factor? Why or why not? 

9. According to the results shown on Table 3, have the authors answered their second research question (p.300)? (Hints: examine OR, 95%CI changes, combining with P values to discuss the authors’ summary on p. 302, the end of RESULTS section) 

10. As illustrated by the authors, the smoking rates in both HI and non-HI groups were much higher than the national norm of 26% for men and 23% for women. Could the higher smoking rates than the national average observed in the study population be likely due to chance or factors not related to receiving HI? Explain your reasons briefly. 

11. Which of the Bradford Hill’s criteria for evaluating causality can be established through this study in consideration of the association between HI and intention to quit smoking? Give one reason for each of your selected criterion. 

12. Was internal validity established in this study? To whom may the results be generalised?