Small per-child risk increases still yield large population-level disease burdens
Evidence
The adjusted odds ratios are not enormous. They do not need to be. These are population-level effects. When you apply a risk increase of 25 to 75 percent to a behavior experienced by tens of millions of children in a single country, the population-attributable fraction — the proportion of the disorder in the population that is statistically attributable to the exposure — becomes significant. Afifi estimated that between 2 and 7 percent of mental disorders in the general population were attributable to harsh physical punishment alone. — , The Rod and the Child, 6038
Categorization
- DEFINE: Explains population-attributable fraction clearly — a useful methodological concept for interpreting modest odds ratios.