Reconciling Sex-Related Bias: An Alternative Method for Data Analysis

PDF Version (605 KB) About This Article Published: 03 October 2017 Note to readers with disabilities: EHP strives to ensure that all journal content is accessible to all readers. However, some figures and Supplemental Material published in EHP articles may not conform to 508 standards due to the complexity of the information being presented. If you need assistance accessing journal content, please contact ehponline@niehs.nih.gov. Our staff will work with you to assess and meet your accessibility needs within 3 working days. During development, hormones guide the processes that underlie the normal formation and function of tissues.1,2 Boys’ and girls’ different hormonal backdrops mean they may differ in their vulnerabilities to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs).2,3 However, as highlighted in a new study in Environmental Health Perspectives,3 the relationships between confounding factors and outcomes may themselves differ by sex, and failure to account for this may result in false estimates of effect. The authors of the study propose a new method to address this issue. “If you think your exposure might act differently on the outcome by sex, you should think about confounders that might also act differently by sex, and account for that,” says Jessie Buckley, an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who coauthored the new study. Researchers typically use one of two approaches to determine whether association...
Source: EHP Research - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: Science Selection Source Type: research