Bayesian analysis of a matched case–control study with expert prior information on both the misclassification of exposure and the exposure–disease association

Abstract

We propose a Bayesian adjustment for the misclassification of a binary exposure variable in a matched case-control study. The method admits a priori knowledge about both the misclassification parameters and the exposure-disease association. The standard Dirichlet prior distribution for a multinomial model is extended to allow separation of prior assertions about the exposure-disease association from assertions about other parameters. The method is applied to a study of occupational risk factors for new-onset adult asthma.