Deck 13: Effect Measure Modification

Question 1

Which of the following occurs when two factors work in concert to produce more disease than one would expect based on the action of either factor working alone?

A) Synergy
B) Validity
C) Precision
D) Antagonism

Answer 1

Synergy

Question 2

Which expression is commonly used to describe effect measure modification but should be avoided because the term is too vague?

A) Statistical interaction
B) Homogeneity of effect
C) Heterogeneity of effect
D) Simple visual inspection

Answer 2

Statistical interaction

Question 3

Once the chi-square statistic is calculated, which of the following may be obtained from a table of chi-square values?

A) P value
B) Standard deviation
C) Confidence interval
D) Statistical power

Answer 3

P value

Question 4

Which of the following occurs when the relative risk associated with having both factors together is larger than the product of the relative risk associated with each factor?

A) Statistical interaction
B) Homogeneity of effect
C) Heterogeneity of effect
D) Departure from multiplicity

Question 5

Which of the following is said to occur when the excessive relative risk among individuals with both factors is less than the sum of the excess relative risks of each factor considered alone?

A) Synergy
B) Validity
C) Precision
D) Antagonism

Question 6

Epidemiologists conduct which of the following to evaluate simultaneously the presence of effect measure modification and confounding?

A) Meta-analysis
B) Stratified analyses
C) Randomization
D) Literature review

Question 7

Which of the following is evaluated either by examining the stratum-specific estimates visually or by performing a statistical test?

A) Statistical interaction
B) Homogeneity of effect
C) Effect measure modification
D) Departure from multiplicity

Question 8

Effect measure modification should not be considered merely an arbitrary statistical phenomenon, but rather it should be regarded as a causal framework for gaining insight into a natural phenomenon.

Question 9

Confounding is a problem that epidemiologists aim to eliminate, and effect measure modification is an interesting occurrence that epidemiologist aim to describe.

Question 10

The excess relative risk is defined as the relative measure of association minus one.

Question 11

Which of the following represents a high level of effect measure modification?

A) Statistical interaction
B) Homogeneity of effect
C) Departure from additivity
D) Departure from multiplicity

Question 12

Which of the following occurs when two factors work in concert to produce more disease than one would expect based on the action of either factor working alone?

A) Synergy
B) Validity
C) Precision
D) Antagonism

Question 13

Effect measure modification, also known as which of the following, means that the strength of the association between an exposure and a disease differs according to the level of another variable?

A) Statistical interaction
B) Homogeneity of effect
C) Heterogeneity of effect
D) Simple visual inspection

Question 14

When the excess relative risk associated with having both factors together is larger than the sum of the excess relative risk associated with each factor alone, it can be concluded that there is effect measure modification known as which of the following?

A) Statistical interaction
B) Homogeneity of effect
C) Departure from additivity
D) Departure from multiplicity

Question 15

Which term is used when effect modification is absent?

A) Statistical interaction
B) Homogeneity of effect
C) Heterogeneity of effect
D) Simple visual inspection

Question 16

Which of the following is sometimes confused with effect measure modification because it also involves a third variable in addition to the exposure and disease and is evaluated by conducting stratified analyses?

A) Bias
B) Confounding
C) Random error
D)D) Generalization

Question 17

Synergy is a more general term for which of the following?

A) Statistical interaction
B) Homogeneity of effect
C) Heterogeneity of effect
D) Departure from multiplicity

Question 18

Like bias and confounding, effect modification is a natural phenomenon of scientific interest that the investigator needs to eliminate.

Question 19

Because its presence depends on the particular measure of association, effect measure modification should be described using terms that specify the measure.

Question 20

When effect measure modification is present using a ratio measure, it will usually be absent when a difference measure is used.