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Re: Award offer
--I agree with what Bill Field says below. That is an example
where SES is a confounding factor. Possible confounding factors are a very
important aspect of any epidemiologic study. That is why I pay such great
attention to them in my papers. See especially Item #7 on my web site,
"Treatment of Confounding Factors ..."
On Mon, 28 Apr 2003 epirad@mchsi.com wrote:
> Jerry,
>
> You wrote: "to buy his conclusions you have to accept the notion that radon
> levels somehow affect smoking habits"
>
> ----------------------
> People who smoke are generally lower in socioeconomic status (SES). The SES
> surely can affect radon levels.
>
> Perhaps:
>
> People who smoke (lower SES) can not afford air conditioning (or lower it
> usage) so leave windows open more.
>
> etc., etc.
>
> Bill Field
> bill-field@uiowa.edu
> > Wes, et al,
> > To me, your assessment of Puskin's paper seems too kind. Puskin's "analysis"
> > appears to be little more than a slick attempt to obfuscate its fundamental lack
> > of logic.
> > When you cut through all the crap, to buy his conclusions you have to accept
> > the notion that radon levels somehow affect smoking habits. I have a bridge I'd
> > like to sell to anyone who finds that plausible. Jerry
> >
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Wesley
> > To: epirad@mchsi.com ; 'Carl Miller' ; 'radsafe'
> > Cc: 'BERNARD L COHEN' ; Wesley R. Van Pelt
> > Sent: Sunday, April 27, 2003 7:26 AM
> > Subject: RE: Award offer
> >
> >
> > To Bill Field and Radsafe,
> >
> >
> >
> > Dr. Puskin has contributed an interesting and valuable paper addressing
> > "Cohen's discrepancy," i.e., Cohen's negative county level association between
> > radon and lung cancer. Puskin shows that respiratory system cancers correlate
> > negatively with radon, but other cancers do not. He then assumes that this is
> > due to smoking (i.e., the smoke causes respiratory system cancers but not other
> > cancers). He then implies that, for some reason, radon is higher in counties
> > where smoking is lower. He offers no data demonstrating why this would be so.
> >
> >
> >
> > I can think of no reason why radon would be robustly and consistently higher
> > in counties where smoking is lower. To me, this is an implausible association.
> >
> >
> >
> > Bill Field's implication that Dr. Puskin has explained Dr. Cohen's discrepancy
> > and deserves the award is premature.
> >
> >
> >
> > Best regards,
> >
> > Wes
> >
> > Wesley R. Van Pelt, PhD, CIH, CHP
> >
> > Wesley R. Van Pelt Associates, Inc.
> >
> > http://home.att.net/~wesvanpelt/Radiation.html
> >
> > wesvanpelt@att.net
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > > Carl,
> >
> > >
> >
> > > Since Dr. Puskin is a federal employee, he likely can not accept a reward
> >
> > > offer. However, a donation to the American Cancer Society could be made
> >
> > > in
> >
> > > his name.
> >
> > >
> >
> > > Regards, Bill Field
> >
> > > epirad@mchsi.com
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
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