589
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Line 153:
Line 153: + +
→Age of Participants
:: Mr. Schlafly, you're sufficiently educated to understand the distinction here. The study is <i>longitudinal,</i> meaning that it enrolled participants and then studied them over a period of time- in this case ten years. So, it did not base its conclusions on a pool of 29-42 year olds but, rather, on a pool of participants who were in that range of ages when the study began but are between 39 and 52 now. While I would certainly like to see the longitudinal component continued for another 10 years or more, the data already available can be used to analyze the question at hand. If abortion does cause breast cancer then we would expect to see a statistically higher rate of cases of breast cancer emerge over those ten years among those who have had abortions than among those who have not. What we see is that women who have had abortions are no more likely to develop breast cancer than women who have never been pregnant and that a completed pregnancy reduces the likelihood of breast cancer. Thus, pregnancy is a protective factor but abortion is not carcinogenic. I don't expect you to recognize that distinction but, at the very least, be honest about the ages of the study's subjects. Your snide comments about studying cancer from smoking in 20 year olds misrepresent my point entirely. A crossectional study wouldn't convince me, but a study that enrolled subjects between the ages of 14 and 26 (median age 20) and then studied them for ten years until they were ages 24 to 36? Well, that's certainly a good start. If smoking does cause cancer, we would expect to see higher cancer rates among smokers over that ten year period, wouldn't we?
:: Mr. Schlafly, you're sufficiently educated to understand the distinction here. The study is <i>longitudinal,</i> meaning that it enrolled participants and then studied them over a period of time- in this case ten years. So, it did not base its conclusions on a pool of 29-42 year olds but, rather, on a pool of participants who were in that range of ages when the study began but are between 39 and 52 now. While I would certainly like to see the longitudinal component continued for another 10 years or more, the data already available can be used to analyze the question at hand. If abortion does cause breast cancer then we would expect to see a statistically higher rate of cases of breast cancer emerge over those ten years among those who have had abortions than among those who have not. What we see is that women who have had abortions are no more likely to develop breast cancer than women who have never been pregnant and that a completed pregnancy reduces the likelihood of breast cancer. Thus, pregnancy is a protective factor but abortion is not carcinogenic. I don't expect you to recognize that distinction but, at the very least, be honest about the ages of the study's subjects. Your snide comments about studying cancer from smoking in 20 year olds misrepresent my point entirely. A crossectional study wouldn't convince me, but a study that enrolled subjects between the ages of 14 and 26 (median age 20) and then studied them for ten years until they were ages 24 to 36? Well, that's certainly a good start. If smoking does cause cancer, we would expect to see higher cancer rates among smokers over that ten year period, wouldn't we?
:::The above comment is unsigned but correct. The authors specifically deal with the fact that the study is both ''ongoing'' and longitudinal. That is to say, it is continuing into those age groups at which breast cancer rates normally increase. It was specifically designed that way to address weaknesses in earlier studies (dealt with in the references to this study). We will have to await further reports to see if there is any more apparent correlation between abortion and breast cancer as that happens, but if there was a real link you would expect to be seeing some kind of effect as some of the women who were enrolled at the beginning of the study were as old as 42 in 1989, so would now be reaching the age where breast cancer would be more likely regardless of reproductive history. At the moment, no such connection is evident on the basis of this study.--[[User:Britinme|Britinme]] 11:12, 2 May 2007 (EDT)
== Miscarriages ==
== Miscarriages ==