How big is a big odds ratio? Interpreting the magnitudes of odds ratios in epidemiological studies

Communications in Statistics: Simulation and Computation

Volumn 39, Issue 4, 2010, Pages 860-864

  Chen, Henian ^a,b,c   Cohen, Patricia ^a,b,d   Chen, Sophie ^e  

^a NEW YORK STATE PSYCHIATRIC INSTITUTE   (United States)

^b Columbia University ^*  (United States)

^c WINTHROP UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL   (United States)

^d Och Spine at New York Presbyterian Hospitals   (United States)

^e HEALTH CANADA   (Canada)

Author keywords

Effect size; Epidemiological study; Logistic regression; Odds ratio; Risk factor

Indexed keywords

EFFECT SIZE; EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDIES; LOGISTIC REGRESSIONS; ODDS RATIOS; RISK FACTORS;

EID: 77951062422     PISSN: 03610918     EISSN: 15324141     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/03610911003650383     Document Type: Article

References (18)

1. Altman, D. G., Deeks, J. J., Sackett, D. L. (1998). Odds ratio should be avoided when events are common. BMJ 317:1318.
2. Bland, J. M., Altman, D. G. (2000). The odds ratio. BMJ 320:1468.
3. Chen, H., Cohen, P, Chen, S. (2007). Biased odds ratios from dichotomization of age. Stat. Med. 26:3487-3497.
4. Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
5. Cohen, P., Chen, H. (2009). How the reflection of linear correlation in odds ratios depends on the cut-off points. Comm. Stat. Simul. Comput. 38:612-620.
6. Davies, H. T. O., Crombie, I. K., Tavakoli, M. (1998). When can odds ratios mislead? BMJ 316:989-991.
7. Deeks, J. J. (1998). When can odds ratios mislead? BMJ 317:1155-1156.
8. Hosmer, D. W., Lemeshow, S. (2000). Applied Logistic Regression. 2nd ed. New York: Wiley.
9. King, G., Zeng, L. (2002). Estimating risk and rate levels, ratios and differences in casecontrol studies. Stat. Med. 21:1409-1427.
10. Koplan, J. P., Thacker, S. B., Lezin, N. A. (1999). Epidemiology in the 21st century: Calculation, communication and intervention. Am. J. Publ. Health 89:1153-1155.
11. Kraemer, H. C. (2004). Reconsidering the odds ratio as a measure of 2 × 2 association in a population. Stat. Med. 23:257-270.
12. Meehl, P. E. (1990). Appraising and amending theories: The strategy of lakatosian defense and principle that warrant it. Psychol. Inq. 1:108-141.
13. Newcombe, R. G. (2006). A deficiency of the odds ratio as a measure of effect size. Stat. Med. 25:4235-4240.
14. Sackett, D. L., Deeks, J. J., Altman, D. G. (1996). Down with odds ratios! Evid. Base. Med. 1:164-166.
15. Schwartz, L. M., Woloshin, S., Welch, H. G. (1999). Misunderstandings about the effects of race and sex on physicians' referrals for cardiac catheterization. New Engl. J. Med. 341:279-283.
16. Sinclair, J. C., Bracken, M. B. (1994). Clinically useful measures of effect in binary analyses of randomized trials. J. Clin. Epidemiol. 47:881-889.
17. Taubes, G. (1995). Epidemiology faces its limits. Science 269:164-169.
18. von Elm, E., Egger, M. (2004). The scandal of poor epidemiological research. BMJ 329:868-869.