title: Case-control studies and Bayesian inference.
abstract: We outline the methods of Bayesian inference for applications to case-control studies. These methods appear as the natural way of making inferences, since much of the controversy that surrounds a specific case-control study is subjective. We derive conjugate prior distributions of exposure, posterior distributions of the ratio of the odds of being incident with a disease both with and without exposure to a potential causal agent, and convenient approximations. In particular, we show how one may carry out 'case-control studies' without necessarily having a control group. We illustrate these ideas with the data that first showed the relationship between in utero exposure to diethylstilbestrol and cancer of the vagina in young girls.
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000139:chemically induced; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000379:methods; D004054:Diethylstilbestrol / Q000009:adverse effects; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011336:Probability; D012107:Research Design; D014625:Vaginal Neoplasms / Q000139:chemically induced
chemical_list: D004054:Diethylstilbestrol