THE EFFECT OF MISCLASSIFICATION IN MATCHED-PAIR CASE-CONTROL STUDIES

Abstract

It has been noted that nondifferential misclassification of the study exposure can produce more severe bias and power loss in pair-matched case-control studies than in unmatched studies, and that the “excess bias” is a direct function of the cioseness of matching on correlates of exposure. This paper illustrates the extent of this excess bias for several case-control situations. It is demonstrated that when the misclassification is differential, bias may be either increased or decreased by matching. A method for correcting for misclassification bias in matched-pair studies is aiso presented.