Recall bias in case-control studies: An empirical analysis and theoretical framework

1995 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Chouinard ◽  
S. Walter
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Case Control ◽  
Recall Bias ◽  
Case Control Studies

scholarly journals Sources of bias in signals of pharmaceutical safety in pregnancy

2010 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gideon Koren ◽  
Sheri Nickel
Keyword(s):  
Null Hypothesis ◽  
Case Reports ◽  
Safety Data ◽  
Case Series ◽  
Case Control ◽  
Recall Bias ◽  
Fetal Exposure ◽  
Case Control Studies ◽  
Fetal Safety ◽  
Pharmaceutical Molecules

Every year scores of new pharmaceuticals enter the market, almost never with human fetal safety data. Such data typically accumulate during the first years of clinical use, in the form of case reports, case series, prospective and retrospective cohorts and case control studies. All of these methods suffer from serious sources of bias, often leading to alarming signals of teratogenicity that are later found to be false. This review highlights major sources of bias, including the bias against the null hypothesis in its different forms, ascertainment and recall bias, in fetal exposure to pharmaceutical molecules.

Sentinel Headaches in Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Haemorrhage: What is the True Incidence? A Systematic Review

Cephalalgia ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 23 (10) ◽  
pp. 935-941 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Polmear
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Subarachnoid Haemorrhage ◽  
Case Control ◽  
Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Haemorrhage ◽  
Recall Bias ◽  
Case Control Studies ◽  
True Incidence ◽  
Number Of Patients ◽  
History Of ◽  
Real Entity

The aim of this systematic review was to determine the incidence of sentinel headache reported by patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage, and whether they are likely to be due to recall bias or to misdiagnosis of a previous haemorrhage. Nine studies of good quality, which reported the number of patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage with a history of sentinel headache, gave rates of 10% to 43%. Two case-control studies, in which the frequency of a history of sentinel headache in patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage was compared with that in controls with non-aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage or with stroke, gave an incidence of 5% (95% confidence interval 0.5, 16) in controls, suggesting that only a small number of apparent sentinel headaches are due to recall bias. Sentinel headaches appear to be a real entity. Their true incidence may vary from near zero to about 40% according to the rate of misdiagnosis in the community under consideration.

scholarly journals O6E.6 Occupational exposures and ALS: international collaborations and new ways to identify risk factors

2019 ◽  
Vol 76 (Suppl 1) ◽  
pp. A61.1-A61
Author(s):  
Susan Peters ◽  
Leonard van den Berg ◽  
Jan Veldink ◽  
Roel Vermeulen
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Case Control Study ◽  
Disease Onset ◽  
Occupational Exposures ◽  
Case Control ◽  
Incidence Density ◽  
Recall Bias ◽  
Case Control Studies ◽  
Incident Cases ◽  
Control Study

BackgroundAssociations between occupational exposures and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) have been suggested, but results are inconsistent. Case-control studies are best suited for inclusion of clinically confirmed incident cases, but prone to recall bias. Cohort studies are free from recall bias and may have pre-symptomatic blood stored, to inform about exposures (e.g. lead) well before disease onset.MethodsAn ongoing nation-wide ALS case-control study has been conducted in the Netherlands since 2006 (currently over 3000 cases and 4500 controls) to study risk factors and possible gene-environment interactions. Part of this study has been pooled with case-control studies from Ireland and Italy (Euro-MOTOR), where the same questionnaire was administered.ResultsWithin the Euro-MOTOR study, ∼1300 cases and ∼2600 controls had full job histories available. Occupational exposures to a range of agents were assessed using job-exposure matrices. Analyses were adjusted for age, sex, centre, education, smoking and alcohol. We found significant associations between ALS and exposure to silica (OR 1.73, 95% CI 1.28–2.33), extremely low-frequency magnetic fields (OR 1.16, 95% CI 1.01–1.33) and electric shocks (OR 1.23, 95% CI 1.05–1.43), independent of the other occupational exposures studied.Future perspectivesA nested ALS case-control study was conducted within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort. 219 people who died from ALS have been identified, and pre-symptomatic blood samples from 168 of these cases are available for analyses. Three controls per case were selected by incidence density sampling matched by age at recruitment, sex and study centre. Metal concentrations will be analysed in the erythrocytes. This would be the first prospective study on the association between exposure to metals and ALS.ConclusionEach study design has its strengths and weaknesses, and ALS should be investigated in a range of (occupational) studies to gain better understanding of its aetiology.

scholarly journals P1-342 Empirical analysis of the risk estimators in spatial case-control studies using different sample designs

2011 ◽  
Vol 65 (Suppl 1) ◽  
pp. A162-A162
Author(s):  
A. C. C. N. Mafra ◽  
C. T. Codeco ◽  
R. Cordeiro ◽  
C. Stephan ◽  
L. B. Nucci
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
Case Control ◽  
Case Control Studies

scholarly journals Modelling the impact of prior immunity, case misclassification and bias on case-control studies in the investigation of outbreaks of cryptosporidiosis

2000 ◽  
Vol 125 (3) ◽  
pp. 713-718 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. R. HUNTER
Keyword(s):  
Water Consumption ◽  
The United States ◽  
Epidemiological Studies ◽  
Case Control ◽  
Recall Bias ◽  
Case Control Studies ◽  
Common Cause ◽  
Population Immunity ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Impact

Cryptosporidiosis is the most common cause of outbreaks of disease linked to mains water supply in the United Kingdom and the second commonest in the United States. Recent evidence has suggested that prior population immunity may have an impact on the epidemiology of waterborne outbreaks and in particular prior immunity may reduce the power of case-control studies for demonstrating association between disease and water consumption behaviour. However, the degree of impact of prior immunity on the power of epidemiological studies is not yet clear. This paper reports the results of some simple mathematical models of outbreaks of waterborne disease in populations with varying levels of immunity due to prior water and non-water exposure. The basic outbreak model was run on a spreadsheet. To determine the impact of prior immunity on case-control studies, further analysis was done using a Monte Carlo method to simulate sampling from cases and controls. It was found that moderate degrees of prior immunity due to water associated disease could markedly reduce the relative risk of water consumption on illness in waterborne outbreaks. In turn this would reduce the power of case-control studies. In addition, this model was used to demonstrate the impact of case misclassification and recall bias on case-control studies. Again it was found that within the model, the results of case-control studies could be significantly affected by both these sources of error. Anyone conducting epidemiological investigations of potentially waterborne outbreaks of disease should be aware of the epidemiological problems. Mistakes from case-control studies will be minimized if the outbreak team pays considerable attention to the descriptive phase of the investigation and if case-control studies are conducted as soon as possible after an outbreak is detected.

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