The application of counter-matching design in epidemiological research / 中华流行病学杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the application of counter-matching design in epidemiological research.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Through elaboration of the study about gene-environment interactions in the etiology of breast cancer, methodology regarding counter-matching design and statistic methods was introduced.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>This design improved the potential for detecting gene-environment interactions for diseases when both gene mutations and the environmental exposures of interest were rare in the general population.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Counter-matching appearsed to be more appropriate than most traditional epidemiologic methods for the study of interactions involving rare factors.</p>