Open AccessRandom-digit dialing for control selection in childhood cancer studies: the geographic proximity and demographics within matched sets.
Author(s) -
P A Sakkinen,
Richard K. Severson,
Julie A. Ross,
Leslie L. Robison
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.85.4.555
Subject(s) - random digit dialing , socioeconomic status , case control study , childhood leukemia , numerical digit , matching (statistics) , demography , medicine , gerontology , environmental health , leukemia , mathematics , population , pathology , lymphoblastic leukemia , arithmetic , sociology
The purpose of this analysis was to evaluate the degree of matching in 95 individually matched pairs from a case-control study of childhood leukemia that used random-digit dialing to select control subjects. Both geographic proximity (of each case subject to his or her matched control subject) and differences in socioeconomic status were evaluated. The median distance between matched pairs was 3.2 km. There were no significant differences in distance between matched pairs by urban/rural status and geographic location. For studies of childhood cancer drawn from pediatric referral centers, random-digit dialing appears to provide a suitable control group.