Odds Ratio Case Study

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An odds ratio (OR) is a measure of association between an exposure and an outcome. The OR represents the odds that an outcome will occur given a particular exposure, compared to the odds of the outcome occurring in the absence of that exposure. Odds ratios are most commonly used in case-control studies, however, they can also be used in cross-sectional and cohort study designs as well (with some modifications and/or assumptions) ¹. The great value of the odds ratio is that it is simple to calculate, very easy to interpret, and provides results upon which clinical decisions can be made. Furthermore, it is sometimes helpful in clinical situations to be able to provide the patient with information on the odds of one outcome versus another. Patients …show more content…
Cases of big toe Cancer Control
Yes 2 3
No 3 2

Interpretation:
The example provided in the discussion associated cancer in the big toe with one risk factor (shoe size larger than 9). The total number of cases was 5 so the association was done according to the exposure and outcome, as a result, 5 cases reported to have cancer and five reported negatives to cancer. In this study, the odd ratio calculation was as followed:
2x2/3x3= 4/9 = 0.444
To conclude the study, the factor discussed (shoe size larger than 9) has a lower association with the risk of the disease.

Rare Cancer Data
The evaluation of the quality of epidemiological data is critical when an empirical research is proposed, so criteria such as the nature of data, availability of the data, the completeness of population coverage and strength versus limitation must be considered³. A source that provides a reliable information about the disease discussed(rare cancer) is the disease registry data, this source delivers statistics based on the cases registry national, state and local and also favor case-control studies. For instance, the SEER program stands for Surveillance, Epidemiology and End results is a system that collects data of the population with cancer across United