Open AccessAre “Further Studies” Really Needed?
Author(s) -
Andrew F. Olshan
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
epidemiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.901
H-Index - 173
eISSN - 1531-5487
pISSN - 1044-3983
DOI - 10.1097/ede.0b013e3181775e3a
Subject(s) - replication (statistics) , epidemiology , environmental health , medicine , risk analysis (engineering) , computer science , psychology , pathology , virology
The association between residential radon exposure and the risk of childhood leukemia reported in this issue of Epidemiology may-or may not-justify further studies to confirm this finding. Such decisions could benefit from a more systematic approach than researchers ordinarily use. Furthermore, when considering the possibility of replication studies, epidemiologists need a new strategy-one that explores more explicitly the improvements and the additional study features that would be required to produce a more meaningful answer.