Compute the proportion of lung cancer attributable to smoking.
Doll As well as Hill first evaluated the proposition that smoking was a risk factor for lung cancer in a case-control study (Doll and Hill, 1950). They originate that, of 650 men with lung cancer (cases), 645 had smoked at some time and compared with 625 of the 650 men without lung cancer (control).
a) Draw up a clearly labelled as well as appropriate 2 x 2 table to show these data.
b) How many times more probable was a smoker to develop lung cancer than a non-smoker?
c) Compute the proportion of lung cancers attributable to smoking among i) smokers and ii) the whole population.
d) What are these measures called as well as how does their interpretation differ?