3 Epidemiology of Cancer

Thomas E. Stinchcombe

QUESTIONS

Each of the numbered items below is followed by lettered answers. Select the ONE lettered answer that is BEST in each case unless instructed otherwise.

Question 3.1 Which of the following is CORRECT about cohort studies?

A. Cohort studies only follow subjects prospectively

B. Subjects are free of disease at the time of study entry

C. The incidence of the disease in the exposed group is compared to members of the general population who have been matched for selected characteristics

D. Cohort studies are useful for estimating the prevalence of a disease

Question 3.2 Potential weaknesses in case-control studies include:

A. Selection biases related to choosing and enrolling subjects

B. Recall biases related to previous exposures

C. Cases may not be representative of disease

D. All of the above

Question 3.3 Confounding factors and interaction (also known as effect modification) are common in epidemiologic studies. Which of the following statements is TRUE in regards to confounding and interaction?

A. Confounder is not associated with exposure

B. Confounder is associated with the disease and dependent on the exposure

C. Confounder may be an intermediate step between exposure and disease

D. Confounder is not a true relationship and interaction is true relationship between an exposure and disease

Question 3.4 Statistical methods are required to evaluate the role of chance, and a usual way to estimate chance is to calculate the upper and lower limits of a 95% confidence interval around a point estimate for relative risk. Which of the following are TRUE related to the use and interpretation of confidence intervals? (Select two correct responses)

A. If the confidence interval does not include 1, the observed association is statistically significant. If the confidence includes 1, then the observed relationship is not statistically significant

B. The width of the confidence interval is directly related to the number of participates in a study or sample size

C. The choice of 95% confidence interval is commonly used, but the upper and lower limits of the interval (e.g., 90% or 99%) can certainly be calculated and interpreted accordingly

D. All of the above

Question 3.5 Dr. Bush wishes to study the relationship between diet soda consumption and the development of gastric cancer. He selects the cases of gastric cancer detected over the last 15 years, and then to obtain his controls he selects for patients who referred to the gastroenterology clinic. This is as an example of:

A. Information bias

B. Selection bias

C. Misclassification bias

D. All of the above

Question 3.6 For which of the following analytical studies is the group the unit of analysis?

A. Ecologic

B. Cross-sectional

C. Cohort

D. Case-control

Question 3.7 Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have revealed an association between CHRNA3 and CHRNA5, and lung cancer

A. True

B. False

Question 3.8 Which of the following cancer is increasing in incidence?

A. Lung cancer among women

B. Colorectal cancer

C. Breast cancer

D. Melanoma

Question 3.9 The discontinuation of the routine use hormone replacement therapy following the publication of the Women’s Health Initiative study is thought to contribute to the declining rate of which of these cancers

A. Breast cancer

B. Lung cancer

C. Colorectal cancer

D. Stomach cancer

Question 3.10 Which of the following is TRUE about the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program?

A. It covers approximately 10% of the US population

B. Staging, treatment and outcome assessment is highly standardized

C. It provides the most precise measure of long-term trends in cancer incidence

D. All of the above

Related posts:

Cancer Prevention Principles of Immunotherapy Pancreatic and Hepatobiliary Cancer Ovarian Cancers Lymphomas Genetic Counseling

Stay updated, free articles. Join our Telegram channel

Join