Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2010, 7(1), 325-332; doi:10.3390/ijerph7010325
Article

To Match or Not to Match in Epidemiological Studies—Same Outcome but Less Power

Tomas Faresjö* email and Åshild Faresjöemail
Department of Medical and Health Sciences, Community Medicine, Linköping University, SE-58183 Linköping, Sweden
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 8 December 2009 / Accepted: 22 January 2010 / Published: 26 January 2010
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Epidemiology)
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Abstract: This study aimed to analyze the possible resemblance or difference in outcome in a case-control study of quality of life for IBS patients compared to controls free from the disease, when a matching procedure for age and sex was applied for the control group compared to when all participating subjects were included in the control group. The main result was that almost the same and identical results were found irrespective of whether matching or not matching was applied in this epidemiological case-control study. The matching procedure however, slightly diminished the statistical power of the results.
Keywords: epidemiology; matching; case-control study; gender

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Cite This Article

MDPI and ACS Style

Faresjö, T.; Faresjö, Å. To Match or Not to Match in Epidemiological Studies—Same Outcome but Less Power. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2010, 7, 325-332.

AMA Style

Faresjö T, Faresjö Å. To Match or Not to Match in Epidemiological Studies—Same Outcome but Less Power. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2010; 7(1):325-332.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Faresjö, Tomas; Faresjö, Åshild. 2010. "To Match or Not to Match in Epidemiological Studies—Same Outcome but Less Power." Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 7, no. 1: 325-332.

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