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Páginas 59-67 (marzo - abril 1991)
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Vol. 5. Núm. 23.
Páginas 59-67 (marzo - abril 1991)
Open Access
Anticonceptivos Orales y Cáncer de Mama: Análisis de la Potencia Estadística de la Asociación
Oral Contraceptives and Breast Cancer: Analisys of the Statistical Power of the Association
Visitas
5554
Miguel Delgado Rodríguez1,2,*, María Sillero Arenas3, Rafael Rodríguez-Contreras1, Aurora Bueno Cavanillas1, José María Martín Moreno4, Ramón Gálvez Vargas1
1 Departamento de Medicina Preventiva de la Facultad de Medicina, Granada
2 Servicio de Medicina Preventiva del Hospital General Virgen de las Nieves, Granada
3 Delegación Provincial de Salud, Jaén
4 Escuela Nacional de Sanidad. Madrid
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Resumen

Se analiza la potencia estadística de todas las publicaciones originales existentes hasta 1989 sobre anticonceptivos orales y cáncer de mama. Utilizando las técnicas del metaanálisis se ha recopilado un total de 77 publicaciones (procedentes de 44 estudios originales), que fueron evaluadas con respecto a la calidad de su metodología y otras variables referentes al patrón de publicación. El poder fue aceptable (≥0,8) sólo en el 10,8% de todas las asociaciones analizadas. La potencia mostró una relación significativa, como era de esperar, con la existencia de un riesgo relativo significativo entre los anticonceptivos orales y el cáncer de mama. No mostró una relación lineal con el tamaño muestra. No mostró, asi mismo, la potencia relación estadísticamente significativa con otras variables ligadas al diseño o con los sesgos encontrados en los estudios, aunque fue mayor en los estudios sin sesgo. La excepción a lo anterior fue la menor potencia de los estudios no apareados frente a los apareados. El análisis multivariable seleccionó como variables predictoras de un poder de 0,8 o más la existencia de significación en el riesgo relativo y la ausencia de sesgos en la investigación.

Palabras clave:
Anticonceptivos orales
Cáncer de mama
Metaanálisis
Métodos epidemiológicos
Estadística
Summary

The power of the association between oral contraceptives and breast cancer was analysed in all the papers published up to date. Seventy-seven publications (from 44 studies) were collected and graded as to quality using meta-analytical methods. Power achieved a figure of ≥0.8 in a 10.8% of the associations studied. It showed a significant relationship with the existence of a significant relative risk of the oral contraceptives for breast cancer. The relationship with the sample size of a study was not linear. Power did not show any significant relationship to other variables related to the design of a study (apart from matching, being the power higher in unmatched studies), or to the biases detected, although studies considered as unbiased yielded a higher power. Logistic regression analysis included as predictors of a power ≥0.80 the existence of a significant relative risk and the lack of biases in a research.

Key words:
Oral contraceptives
Breast neoplasms
Meta-analysis
Epidemiologic methods
Statistics
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