Random digit dialing for control selection. A review and a caution on its use in studies of childhood cancer.
Random digit dialing is an effective method for creating a probability sample of households for telephone interviews. Epidemiologists have successfully used the technique to select controls for population-based case-control studies. However, a modified version of random digit dialing used in some institution-based studies of childhood cancer etiology involves a selection process which is biased against children from families with closely spaced births. The author discusses alternative approaches to reducing this bias in control group selection.
Department of Community and Family Medicine, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Hanover, NH.
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Greenberg
D015982:Bias; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011336:Probability; D011897:Random Allocation; D015983:Selection Bias; D013689:Telephone