An Intuitive Approach to Understanding the Attributable Fraction of Disease Due to a Risk Factor: The Case of Smoking
An Intuitive Approach to Understanding the Attributable Fraction of Disease Due to a Risk Factor: The Case of Smoking
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DOI：
10.3390/ijerph10072932
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发表时间：
2013-07-01
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Rosen, Laura
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Rosen, Laura
烟草使用对健康的损害已经得到了深入的研究，但量化吸烟造成的疾病和死亡的确切负担是一个复杂的问题，因此容易受到利益相关方的操纵。本文的目标是清楚地传达归因分数（AF）的概念，即，人群中可归因于风险因素的疾病比例，并了解AF、人群暴露患病率和暴露情况下疾病的相对风险之间的关系。总结了当前计算AF的方法。提出了一个直观的公式，并附有图形照明。对于吸烟引起的疾病，吸烟引起的疾病的AF随着吸烟的流行和吸烟引起的疾病的相对风险而增加。所提出的方法有可能帮助卫生专业人员和决策者了解由于吸烟或其他生活方式，环境和职业因素的疾病负担的概念，在公共卫生的重要性。这将有助于在公共卫生政策方面作出正确的决策。
The health damage from tobacco use has been studied intensively, yet quantifying the precise burden of disease and death due to smoking is a complex problem, and consequently open to manipulation by interested parties. The goals of this paper are to clearly communicate the concept of the attributable fraction (AF), i.e., the proportion of disease in a population which can be attributed to a risk factor, and to understand the relationship between the AF, the prevalence of exposure in a population, and the relative risk of disease given the exposure. The current approach to calculating the AF is summarized. An intuitive formula is proposed, with accompanying graphical illumination. For diseases caused by smoking, the AF of disease due to smoking increases with the prevalence of smoking and with the relative risk of disease due to smoking. The proposed method has the potential to help health professionals and decision makers understand the concept of the burden of disease due to smoking or other lifestyle, environmental, and occupational factors, in the context of public health importance. This will aid sound decision-making in public health policy.