Sample size and power based on the population attributable fraction

W.S. Browner and T.B. Newman

American Journal of Public Health, 1989, vol. 79, issue 9, 1289-1294

Abstract: Most methods for calculating sample size use the relative risk (RR) to indicate the strength of the association between exposure and disease. For measuring the public health importance of a possible association, the population attributable fraction (PAF) - the proportion of disease incidence in a population that is attributable to an exposure - is more appropriate. We determined sample size and power for detecting a specified PAF in both cohort and case-control studies and compared the results with those obtained using conventional estimates based on the relative risk. When an exposure is rare, a study that has little power to detect a small RR often has adequate power to detect a small PAF. On the other hand, for common exposures, even a relatively large study may have inadequate power to detect a small PAF. These comparisons emphasize the importance of selecting the most pertinent measure of association, either relative risk or population attributable fraction, when calculating power and sample size.

Date: 1989
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:1989:79:9:1289-1294_1

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