I wait a moment and then cut through the wind increasing the dose. The relationship between two relationships is the Odds Ratio”.Īt this point the look of my interlocutor becomes impassive and a question mark is printed on his forehead. The same applies to the odds of cancer in men.

I handle it usually like this: “For example, the odds of bowel cancer in women are the ratio between the number of diseased women and the number of healthy women. Here the trouble begins: “Odds, Gianfranco? What the hell do the Odds mean?” This measure of association is called “Odds Ratio” because it is exactly a relationship between the Odds!” For example: is candy consumption (exposure) associated with the evolution of dental caries (event)?Īnother example: is there an association between being a woman (exposure) and a bowel cancer (event)? “The Odds Ratio is a measure of the strength of the association between an exposure and an event. My little speech, sitting at the desk, begins like this: There are many colleagues who do not master this measure themselves.īelow I will try to explain step by step how I respond to people who ask me “What does Odds Ratio

Often as a biostatistician I am asked to explain Odds Ratios to people who do not know anything about statistics.

What do 54 odds mean