ArticlePloS one2023
Untangling the effects of multiple exposures with a common reference group in an epidemiologic study: A practical revisit.
Article in PloS one, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 8 citations in OpenAlex.
- Anthrax outbreak associated with the consumption and handling of carcasses of livestock that suddenly died, Kanungu District, Uganda, June-November 2024.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2026Article
- Diminishing Returns Among Black Patients With Cancer: The Intersection of Race and Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status.Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology · 2026Article
- Bridging the life-course exposome approach with a life-cycle perspective in safe and sustainable by design (SSbD) for chemical risk.Human genomics · 2026Article
- Differential use of antidiabetic medication related to income, cohabitation and area of residence: a Swedish nationwide cohort study.Journal of epidemiology and community health · 2025Article
- Anthrax outbreak linked to consumption and handling of meat from unexpectedly deceased cattle, Kyotera district, Uganda, June-December 2023.One health outlook · 2025Article
- Cutaneous anthrax outbreak associated with use of cattle hides and handling carcasses, Amudat District, Uganda, 2023-2024.PloS one · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
When assessing multiple exposures in epidemiologic studies, epidemiologists often use multivariable regression models with main effects only to control for confounding. This method can mask the true effects of individual exposures, potentially leading to wrong conclusions. We revisited a simple, practical, and often overlooked approach to untangle effects of the exposures of interest, in which the combinations of all levels of the exposures of interest are recoded into a single, multicategory variable. One category, usually the absence of all exposures of interest, is selected as the common reference group (CRG). All other categories representing individual and joint exposures are then compared to the CRG using indicator variables in a regression model or in a 2×2 contingency table analysis. Using real data examples, we showed that using the CRG analysis results in estimates of individual and joint effects that are mutually comparable and free of each other's confounding effects, yielding a clear, accurate, intuitive, and simple summarization of epidemiologic study findings involving multiple exposures of interest.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.