Abstract
Population-based health studies are critical resources for monitoring population health and related factors such as substance use, but reliable inference can be compromised in various ways. Non-response and attrition are major methodological problems which reduce power and can hamper the generalizability of findings if individuals who participate and who remain in a study differ systematically from those who do not. In this issue of SPPE, McCabe et al. studied participants of the 2001–2002 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, comparing attrition in Wave 2 across participants with different patterns of substance use at Wave 1. The implications of differential follow-up and further possibilities for addressing selective participation are discussed.
Highlights
Population-based health studies are critical resources for monitoring population health and related factors such as substance use, but reliable inference can be compromised in various ways
The occurrence of missing data leads to bias in analysis unless the underlying mechanism of missing data is ‘missing completely at random’ (MCAR)
Their study examined participants of the prospective 2001–2002 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, comparing non-response in the 3-year follow-up Wave 2 interview among groups of participants categorized according to their use of an array of substances at Wave 1
Summary
Population-based health studies are critical resources for monitoring population health and related factors such as substance use, but reliable inference can be compromised in various ways. Keywords Attrition Á Non-response Á Bias Á Population based Á Substance use Accurate inference from population-based health studies is more often than not blighted by the problem of missing data [1].
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