Vibration of effects in epidemiologic studies of alcohol consumption and breast cancer risk.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Different analytical approaches can influence the associations estimated in observational studies. We assessed the variability of effect estimates reported within and across observational studies evaluating the impact of alcohol on breast cancer.

Methods

We abstracted largest harmful, largest protective and smallest (closest to the null value of 1.0) relative risk estimates in studies included in a recent alcohol-breast cancer meta-analysis, and recorded how they differed based on five model specification characteristics, including exposure definition, exposure contrast levels, study populations, adjustment covariates and/or model approaches. For each study, we approximated vibration of effects by dividing the largest by the smallest effect estimate [i.e. ratio of

SUBMITTER: Chu L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7266551 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature