Table 2

Design of the flexible two-phase study for Example 1

Disease Status
(D)
Metal-workers
Z (τij)
Fixed number of subjects to be included in Phase Two
(nij)
Expected Phase One numbers of subjects to be screened
(Nij)
Expected Proportion of MWF exposure within strata §
X(πijk)
Expected distribution of subjects by MWF in Phase Two




N0 = Max(160/20%, 40/80%) = 800



Control
No (80%*)
40
800*80% = 640
No (97.5%*)
40*97.5% = 39




Yes (2.5%*)
40*2.5% = 1

Yes (20%*)
160
800*20% = 160
No (75%*)
160*75% = 120




Yes (25%*)
160*25% = 40




N1 = Max(85/23.4%, 20/76.6%) = 364



Case
No (76.6%#)
20
364*76.6% = 278.8
No (95.1%#)
20*95.1% = 19.02




Yes (4.9%#)
20*4.9% = 0.98

Yes (23.4%#)
85
364*23.4% = 85
No (60%#)
85*60% = 51




Yes (40%#)
85*40% = 34

* Values of parameters fixed in Table 1

# Values of parameters computed from parameter values fixed in Table 1 (see Appendix 2)

§ In Phase One controls, the overall expected percentage of MWF exposure is equal to 7%, that is, 2% = 2.5% of 80% non-metal-workers plus 5% = 25% of 20% metal-workers. Similar computations lead to 13% MWF exposure in cases.

Wild et al. Epidemiologic Perspectives & Innovations 2008 5:4   doi:10.1186/1742-5573-5-4