McKenzie LM, Allshouse WB, Cockburn M, Ghosh D. Feasibility and limitations of using
commercial databases to evaluate residential mobility in registry-based research on childhood cancer.
Cancer Epidemiol 2024;
90:102561. [PMID:
38492470 DOI:
10.1016/j.canep.2024.102561]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2024] [Revised: 03/04/2024] [Accepted: 03/06/2024] [Indexed: 03/18/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Researchers have used commercial databases containing residential addresses to reduce exposure misclassification in case-control studies. Our objective is to evaluate the potential systematic bias regarding case status when reconstructing residential locations from commercial databases.
METHODS
Our study population of 3640 Colorado-born children includes 520 children diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia between 2002 and 2019. We aligned addresses and date ranges obtained from LexisNexis with registry dates to determine three dichotomous outcomes: Found in LexisNexis, conception date found in LexisNexis, and reference date/diagnosis date found in LexisNexis. We applied logistic regression to determine whether outcomes differed by case status.
RESULTS
Mothers of cases were 39% more likely to be found in LexisNexis than mothers of controls (OR = 1.39, 95% CI: 0.97, 2). Of the mothers found in LexisNexis, a conception address was 33% more likely (OR= 1.33, 95% CI: 1.06, 1.66) and a reference/diagnosis address was 60% more likely (OR= 1.60, 95% CI: 1.21, 2.12) to be found for mothers of cases than mothers of controls.
CONCLUSION
This study indicates that use of commercial databases to reconstruct residential locations may systematically bias results in case-control studies of childhood cancers.
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