Beard et al. (Lancet, 1982:455) described a randomised trial to determine if a low sodium diet was an effective substitute for pharmacological control of hypertension. 90 patients on medication for mild hypertension were allocated at random into two groups. The 45 participants in the intervention group (diet group) were encouraged to adopt a diet free from sodium. The other 45 participants (control group) were asked to continue their usual diet. All the participants were kept under close surveillance to see if it was possible to discontinue the medication for hypertension without detriment. In the diet group, medication was discontinued for 14 participants and in the control group for 4 participants. a) Draw a 2 by 2 table . b) Carry out a significance test to compare the intervention (diet group) and control group with respect to discontinuation of medication for hypertension. c) Write a brief report on your conclusion.
Continuous Probability Distributions
Probability distributions are of two types, which are continuous probability distributions and discrete probability distributions. A continuous probability distribution contains an infinite number of values. For example, if time is infinite: you could count from 0 to a trillion seconds, billion seconds, so on indefinitely. A discrete probability distribution consists of only a countable set of possible values.
Normal Distribution
Suppose we had to design a bathroom weighing scale, how would we decide what should be the range of the weighing machine? Would we take the highest recorded human weight in history and use that as the upper limit for our weighing scale? This may not be a great idea as the sensitivity of the scale would get reduced if the range is too large. At the same time, if we keep the upper limit too low, it may not be usable for a large percentage of the population!
Beard et al. (Lancet, 1982:455) described a randomised trial to determine if a low sodium diet was an effective substitute for pharmacological control of hypertension. 90 patients on medication for mild hypertension were allocated at random into two groups. The 45 participants in the intervention group (diet group) were encouraged to adopt a diet free from sodium. The other 45 participants (control group) were asked to continue their usual diet. All the participants were kept under close surveillance to see if it was possible to discontinue the medication for hypertension without detriment. In the diet group, medication was discontinued for 14 participants and in the control group for 4 participants.
a) Draw a 2 by 2 table .
b) Carry out a significance test to compare the intervention (diet group) and control group with respect to discontinuation of medication for hypertension.
c) Write a brief report on your conclusion.
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