What is the objective of the study?
What is the conceptual definition of the outcome?
What is the operational definition of the outcome
Is there a type of bias present?
If yes, what are the consequences of bias in this study?
What direction does the bias lead toward?
Objective of the Study:
The population-based case control study aims to explore/investigate the association of benzodiazepines and benzodiazepine related drugs and cancer risk.
As stated in the journal "Studies of the carcinogenic potential of benzodiazepines and related drugs (BZRD) have been equivocal. A recent study reported a 35% excess cancer risk among users of hypnotics, including benzodiazepines."1
Conceptual Definition of the Outcome
Operational Definition of the Outcome
Bias Present
Data material did not contain information on lifestyle factors that could potentially act as confounders (e.g. higher use of tobacco and alcohol). "The estimated ORs for tobacco related-cancers were slightly higher than for non-tobacco-related cancers, 1.15 vs. 1.01, which suggests that residual confounding by smoking may play a role."1 The findings for other cancers as stomach, pancreatic, liver, lung, pancreatic, kidney, and esophageal cancer can be explained by lifestyle confounding.