Comparing Methods for Estimating Odds Ratios in Obesity Research
Author Information
Author(s): Bakhshi Enayatollah, Eshraghian Mohammad R, Mohammad Kazem, Seifi Behjat
Primary Institution: Tehran University/Medical Sciences, Iran
Hypothesis
Does the 'without dichotomizing' method provide more accurate odds ratios for obesity compared to the 'dichotomizing' method?
Conclusion
The 'without dichotomizing' method is more useful for estimating odds ratios and provides more precise results than the 'dichotomizing' method.
Supporting Evidence
- The odds ratio estimates changed only slightly over the two methods.
- The 'without dichotomizing' method provided shorter confidence intervals on the odds ratio parameters than the dichotomizing method.
- Urban women had significantly higher odds of obesity than their rural counterparts.
- Age was directly associated with obesity.
- Education was inversely associated with obesity.
- Non-smoker women were more obese than smokers.
- Married women had significantly higher odds of obesity than their non-married counterparts.
- An association was observed between economic index and obesity.
Takeaway
This study shows that when looking at weight data, it's better to keep the numbers as they are instead of splitting them into groups, because you get clearer results.
Methodology
A comparative study using data from the National Health Survey in Iran, comparing two methods for estimating odds ratios.
Potential Biases
Potential bias due to the exclusion of pregnant women and reliance on a single dataset.
Limitations
The study's cross-sectional nature limits conclusions about causality, and it did not include physical activity or income data.
Participant Demographics
14176 women aged 20–69 years, including 8957 urban and 5219 rural participants.
Statistical Information
P-Value
p<0.05
Confidence Interval
95% CI: 1.916–2.914
Statistical Significance
p<0.05
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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