Question

Assume that each of the following scenarios pertain to a study or exercise (exposure) and myocardial infarction (outcome), and gender is a potential confounder. Which of the following scenarios demonstrates the use of restriction to control for confounding?

a. Limiting participation in the study to men.

b. In a case-control study that includes both men and women, the controls are selected so that the proportion of male and female subjects groups are identical.

c. In a study that includes both men and women, the investigators determine the relative risk separately for men and for women and then compares these to the crud relative risk.

d. None of the above.

Answer 1

Correct option:

(a)   Limiting participation in the study to men.

Explanation:

The standard methods used to control for confounding are:

(i) Randomization

(ii) Restriction

and

(iii) Matching.

Among these 3 methods, Restriction implies that only subjects wit certain values for the potential confounders are selcted.

In this experimentation, gender isa potential confounder. Restriction is achieved by l imiting participation in the study to men