AKT-1920
You are working as a clinical research fellow. You design a case-control study to investigate the association between maternal diet during pregnancy and adolescent obesity.
What kind of bias is this study most susceptible to?
Archives: MRCGP AKT
AKT-1921
A group of medical students want to investigate the impact of childhood drug use on the diagnosis of dementia in later life. They propose a case-control study design. The students will randomly select a sample of patients with dementia (the cases) and a sample of patients without dementia (the controls). After this, patients will be asked to report their experience of childhood drug use. The hospital’s ethical review board is concerned with the study design. They argue that this study is particularly susceptible to recall bias and should be revised.
What is the specific concern of the review board regarding the proposed study design?
AKT-1922
Which one of the following statements best describes a type I statistical error?
AKT-1923
A circumstance in which a subject in a research project alters their behavior due to the awareness of being monitored is referred to as what?
AKT-1924
A 47-year-old man seeks your guidance on quitting smoking and mentions his interest in using electronic cigarettes as a cessation aid. You recall reading a study that compared electronic cigarettes to nicotine replacement therapy for smoking cessation. The study involved primary care patients who were randomly assigned to either the intervention or control group.
What type of bias could potentially threaten the validity of this study?
AKT-1925
A new oral-hypoglycaemic is being developed. A number of different study types are considered to demonstrate efficacy in reducing the HbA1c. Which one of the following study designs would require the most participants to produce a significant result?
AKT-1901
A study examining glucose levels in a group of individuals taking antipsychotics reports a mean value of 7 mmol/L. The sample size is 9, and the standard deviation of the sample is 6 mmol/L. The standard error of the mean is 2 mmol/L. What is the closest estimate for the correct range of the 95% confidence interval? Additionally, suppose the study was conducted on a population of individuals aged 65 and above.
AKT-1902
A clinical trial is being conducted to investigate the effectiveness of a new oral medication in improving the symptoms of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The trial involves 400 patients aged 50 and above, with 200 patients receiving the new medication and the other 200 receiving a placebo. After six months, the patients are asked to rate their symptoms using a five-point scale: much improved, slightly improved, no change, slightly worsened, significantly worse. What statistical test would be most appropriate to determine whether the new medication is effective?
AKT-1903
What is the term used to describe a worldwide flu outbreak?
AKT-1904
A research facility is attempting to create a new test to screen for prostate cancer compared to current methods which include a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test. From initial findings, the new screening test seems to be more effective at detecting early-stage cancers. However, when comparing both tests, there doesn’t seem to be a noticeable difference in survival rates.
What is this an instance of?