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.
Greenberg
E R
ER
Department of Community and Family Medicine, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Hanover, NH.
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