Estimation of risks in
epidemiological studies.
In this class you will learn to calculate
• Relative risk
• Odds ratio
• Attributable risk
• Population attributable risk
RELATI
VE RISK
Relative risk (risk ratio)
• It is the ratio of the incidence of the disease (or death) among
  exposed and the incidence among non-exposed.
RR=
It is a direct measure of strength of association between suspected
 cause and effect.
A relative risk of one indicates no association.
RR of more than one indicates positive association between exposure
 and disease under study.
It is useful to consider 95% confidence interval of a RR since it
 provides an indication of likely and maximum levels of risk.
Usually calculated in cohort studies.
Example 1.
• In a rural area,100 women were selected who conceived during the
  pesticide spraying season and another group of 100 women were
  selected living in the same area who conceived during non-spraying
  season.
The number of miscarriages in both the groups was recorded. The
number of miscarriages was 30 in those exposed to pesticides and 10 in
those not exposed.
Exposed to pesticides            Miscarriage          Total
                        Yes            No
yes                     30 (a)         70 (b)   100
no                      10 (c)         90 (d)   100
Total                   40             160      200
• RR=
  RR=
        =0.3/0.1=3
Example 2.
• To study the strength of association between heavy work during ante-
  natal period and low birth weight baby, cohort of 515 heavy worker
  ANCs was followed up. A duly matched control cohort of 515
  sedentary-moderate worker ANCs were also followed up. Complete
  follow up till the measurement of birth weight could be done in 506
  and 511 subjects of study and control cohort respectively. Following
  outcomes were found
Type of ANC                    Low birth weight
                     Present           Absent
Heavy worker         189               317        506
Sedentary-moderate   95                416        511
                     284               733        1017
          RR=
             =2.05
 Heavy worker pregnant ladies are at 2 times higher risk of having low
 birth weight babies than sedentary-moderate worker.
 ODDS
RATIO
Odds ratio
It is the ratio of the odds (chance) of an event occurring in one group to
the odds of it occurring in another group.
OR= ad/bc
• Calculated in case-control studies
• If the disease under study is very rare then odds ratio can be used as
  relative risk.
Example 1.
• A study was launched to determine if smoking increased the risk of
  stroke. Fifty patients diagnosed with stroke and 50 matching healthy
  persons were assessed for their smoking status. Thirty of the stroke
  patients were smokers as against 20 among healthy. Calculate the
  effect of smoking on the risk of stroke.
H/O Smoking         Stroke
              Yes       No
Present       30        20   50
Absent        20        30   50
Total         50        50   100
• OR =
    =2.2
 smokers are at 2.2 times risk of stroke than non-smokers.
Example 2.
• One study was conducted to demonstrate the effect of physical
  exercise on heart diseases. Around 100 patients with coronary heart
  disease were enrolled and 100 matching controls were selected. It
  was found that 60 of controls were doing daily physical exercise
  whereas only 10 of cases were doing regular exercises. Calculate the
  odds ratio.
H/O exercise             Coronary artery disease
               Present               Absent
Present        10                    60            70
Absent         90                    40            130
               100                   100           200
ATTRIBUTA
  BLE RISK
Attributable risk
• It is the difference in incidence rates of disease (or death) between an
  exposed group and non-exposed group.
• AR= ×100
• Attributable risk indicates to what extent the disease under study can
  be attributed to the exposure.
POPULATIO
         N
ATTRIBUTA
  BLE RISK
Population attributable risk (PAR)
It is the incidence of the disease (or death) in the total population
minus the incidence of the disease (or death) among those who were
not exposed to the suspected causal factor.
 The PAR provides an estimate of amount by which the disease could
 be reduced in that population if the suspected risk factor was
 eliminated or modified.