Confounding in epidemiologic studies: the adequacy of the control group as a measure of confounding.
A model for confounding in epidemiologic studies is developed based on the adequacy of the "control" group, instead of the widely used criterion of collapsibility, as a measure of confounding. It is shown that conditions for no confounding in both cohort and case-control studies derived under this model generally agree with the conditions for confounding derived inductively by Miettinen and Cook (1981, American Journal of Epidemiology 114, 593-603). The concept of confounding on which this model is based is compared with the collapsibility criterion in terms of its utility in the design and analysis of epidemiologic studies.
Yale University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, New Haven, Connecticut 06519.
P J
PJ
Wickramaratne
T R
TR
Holford
D001699:Biometry; D004813:Epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D012107:Research Design