Breast Cancer Causal Factors Essay

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Cancer risk factors associated with insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-3 levels in healthy women" (Barnes et al., 2009). The method for determining causality in this study was the statistical program R. In this, a variety of statistical tests were run on the data, including t-test, Chi-Squared, Fisher's exact test, and Pearson correlations. The study also sought to control for other factors. This is necessary because there are many different potential factors that can influence the development of disease. The control and study groups, and the statistical tests used, need to isolate the independent variable in order to demonstrate that it is a causal factor. This statistical work owes a lot of its underpinnings to Bradford Hill, but also the web of causation. The web of causation reflects that disease is related to many different factors. The factors may in turn influence each other. "All predisposing factors of any type and their complex relations with each other and with the disease" (Friedman, 1974) are taken into account in the web. Statistical analysis runs counter to the web, in that it seeks to isolate a single independent variable, which necessitates finding statistical means of removing the influence of the other factors. Yet, there is an implicit recognition that there are many causal factors and the analysis seeks only to determine the degree to which each individual factor contributes to the epidemiology of the disease.

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I agree with the choice of methodologies that was used in this article. The Bradford Hill criteria indicate that statistical evidence should be produced in order to determine causality, that this evidence should be strong, consistent and reproducible. In this particular study, the sample size is sufficiently large that the data can be significant for the population studied. The different statistical tests are used to confirm the null hypothesis, and provide the consistent, reproducible evidence needed to fulfill the Bradford Hill criteria.

There are a few implications for public health policy that come from the findings in this paper. The paper showed that age at menarche and parity are both inversely associated with breast cancer risk. The were no clear associations with other risk factors and breast cancer. The authors also note that "there is no support for the mediating role of IGF proteins in the reduced breast cancer risk due to parity, and the evidence to date regarding age at menarche and circulating IGF-I and IGFBP-3….....

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https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/breast-cancer-causal-factors-2156404
   

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