NR 503 Week 8 Final Exam Study Guide

An outbreak of gastroenteritis occurred at a boarding school with a student enrollment of 846. Fifty seven students reported symptoms including vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, & low-grade fever between 10 p.m. on September 24 & 8 p.m. on September 25. The ill students lived in dormitories that housed 723 of the students. The table below provides information on the number of students per type of residence & the number reporting illnesses consistent with the described symptoms & onset time. Which proportion is more informative for the purpose of the outbreak investigation? Both proportions are useful. Dormitory residents account for over 90% of the cases indicating an outbreak of an infectious agent that was transmitted at the school. Furthermore, over 75% of the cases were boys indicating that the responsible agent was more likely to have been transmitted in the boys’ dormitory. A group of researchers are interested in conducting a clinical trial to determine whether a new cholesterol-lowering agent was useful in preventing coronary heart disease (CHD). They identified 12,327 potential participants for the trial. At the initial clinical exam, 309 were discovered to have CHD. The remaining subjects entered the trial & were divided equally into the treatment & placebo groups. Of those in the treatment group, 505 developed CHD after 5 years of follow-up while 477 developed CHD during the same period in the placebo group. What was the prevalence of CHD at the initial exam? The prevalence of CHD at the initial exam was 309 cases of CHD divided by 12,327 participants. This equals a prevalence of 25.1 cases of CHD per 1,000 persons. A group of researchers are interested in conducting a clinical trial to determine whether a new cholesterol-lowering agent was useful in preventing coronary heart disease (CHD). They identified 12,327 potential participants for the trial. At the initial clinical exam, 309 were discovered to have CHD. The remaining subjects entered the trial & were divided equally into the treatment & placebo groups. Of those in the treatment group, 505 developed CHD after 5 years of follow-up while 477 developed CHD during the same period in the placebo group. What was the incidence of CHD during the 5-year study? The incidence rate reflects the number of new cases developing in the population at risk. Since prevalent CHD cases were excluded from the study, the population at risk was 12,018 (12,327 persons less 309 cases of CHD). During the 5-year study period, 982 incident cases of CHD developed. This equals an incidence rate of 81.7 cases of CHD per 1,000 persons. A school nurse examined a population of 1,000 children in an attempt to detect nearsightedness. The prevalence of myopia in this population is known to be 15%. The sensitivity of the examination is 60% & its specificity is 80%. All children labeled as “positive” (i.e., suspected of having myopia) by the school nurse are sent for examination by an optometrist. The sensitivity of the optometrist’s examination is 98% & its specificity is 90%. What is the positive predictive value (PPV) of the optometrist’s exam? The PPV of the optometrist’s exam is equal to the number of true positive cases divided by the total number that the optometrist labels as positive. The optometrist will only test 260 children referred by the school nurse. Of these children, the optometrist will correctly identify 89 cases of myopia among 105 children labeled as positive for the condition. The PPV equals 83.8% (89 true myopic children divided by 105 children labeled as positive). A school nurse examined a population of 1,000 children in an attempt to detect nearsightedness. The prevalence of myopia in this population is known to be 15%. The sensitivity of the examination is 60% & its specificity is 80%. All children labeled as “positive” (i.e., suspected of having myopia) by the school nurse are sent for examination by an optometrist. The sensitivity of the optometrist’s examination is 98% & its specificity is 90%. What is the negative predictive value (NPV) of the optometrist’s exam? The NPV of the optometrist’s exam is 98.7%. The NPV equals the number of true negative cases divided by all negative cases indicated by the exam. In this instance, the optometrist correctly identifies 153 children as negative for myopia; however, there are 2 false negative cases following the optometrist’s exam (90 true cases referred by the school nurse less the 88 cases detected by the optometrist). The NPV equals 153 divided by 155, or 98.7%. A school nurse examined a population of 1,000 children in an attempt to detect nearsightedness. The prevalence of myopia in this population is known to be 15%. The sensitivity of the examination is 60% & its specificity is 80%. All children labeled as “positive” (i.e., suspected of having myopia) by the school nurse are sent for examination by an optometrist. The sensitivity of the optometrist’s examination is 98% & its specificity is 90%. What is the overall sensitivity of the sequential examinations? The overall sensitivity of the sequential exams is 58.7%; 88 true positive cases of myopia are found following the optometrist’s exam among the 150 prevalent cases in the school population. A school nurse examined a population of 1,000 children in an attempt to detect nearsightedness. The prevalence of myopia in this population is known to be 15%. The sensitivity of the examination is 60% & its specificity is 80%. All children labeled as “positive” (i.e., suspected of having myopia) by the school nurse are sent for examination by an optometrist. The sensitivity of the optometrist’s examination is 98% & its specificity is 90%. What is the overall specificity of the sequential examinations? The overall specificity of the sequential exams is 98%; 833 children will be correctly labeled as negative for myopia among the 850 true negative cases. This is found by summing the number of true positives after each exam (680 following that of the school nurse plus 153 following the optometrist) & dividing by the true negative children in the population. This equals 833 divided by 850, or 98%.