The Physicians\' Health Study randomly assigned 22,071 healthy male physicians a

Question

The Physicians' Health Study randomly assigned 22,071 healthy male physicians at least 40 years old to take either an aspirin every other day or a placebo pill every other day. Of the 11433 physicians who took aspirin regularly for 5 years, 9 had a fatal heart attack and 122 had a nonfatal heart attack. Of the 10638 who took the placebo, 27 suffered a fatal heart attack and 208 had a nonfatal heart attack. Please use 4 decimal places to answer the questions below.

(a) What is the proportion of physicians who suffered a fatal heart attack in the:

aspirin group?
placebo group?

(b) Calculate the relative risk of a fatal heart attack for physicians taking aspirin compared with those taking a placebo (do not use the rounded values from part (a) to do your calculations. Use the original proportions in your calculation. Remember, give your answer to 4 decimal places.).


(c) What is the proportion of physicians who suffered a nonfatal heart attack in the:

aspirin group?
placebo group?

(d) Calculate the relative risk of a nonfatal heart attack, for physicians taking aspirin compared with those taking a placebo (do not use rounded values in your calculation and give your answer to 4 decimal places).

Explanation / Answer

a) Proportion of physician in Aspirin group to have fatal attack=9/131=0.069

Proportion of physician in Placebo group to have fatal attack=27/235=0.115

b) RR=(9/131)/(27/235)=0.5980

c)

Proportion of physician in Aspirin group to have non-fatal attack=122/131=0.931

Proportion of physician in Placebo group to have non-fatal attack=208/235=0.885

d) RR=(122/131)/(208/235)=1.0522

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