Evidence
If one corrects and adjusts for the confounding by smoking, via stratification or multivariable regression modelling to statistical control for smoking, then one finds that the association between birth weight and mortality may be attenuated towards the null. Nevertheless, most epidemiologic studies of birth weight and mortality have controlled for maternal smoking, and the adjusted results, although attenuated after adjusting for smoking, still indicated a significant association.
Additional support for the hypothesis that birth weight and mortality can be acted on independently came from the analysis of birth data from Colorado: compared with the birth weight distribution in the US as a whole, the distribution curve in Colorado is also shifted to lower weights. The overall child mortality of Colorado children is the same as that for US children however, and if one corrects for the lower weights as above, one finds that babies of a given (corrected) weight are just as likely to die, whether they are from Colorado or not. The likely explanation here is that the higher altitude of Colorado affects birth weight, but not mortality.
Read more about this topic: Low Birth-weight Paradox
Famous quotes containing the word evidence:
“Yet in spite of all they sang in praise of their “Eliza’s reign,” we have evidence that poets may be born and sing in our day, in the presidency of James K. Polk.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“If you are of the opinion that the contemplation of suicide is sufficient evidence of a poetic nature, do not forget that actions speak louder than words.”
—Fran Lebowitz (b. 1951)
“There is evidence that all too many people are approaching parenthood with a dangerous lack of knowledge and skill. The result is that many children are losing out on what ought to be an undeniable right—the right to have parents who know how to be good parents, parents skilled in the art of “parenting.””
—T. H. Bell (20th century)