Limitations on the uses of multimedia exposure measurements for multipathway exposure assessment--Part I: Handling observations below detection limits. |
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Authors: | C Andrew Clayton Paul L Mosquin Edo D Pellizzari James J Quackenboss |
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Affiliation: | RTI International, PO Box 12194, 3040 Cornwallis Road, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA. clayton@rti.org |
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Abstract: | Multimedia data from two probability-based exposure studies were investigated in terms of how censoring of nondetects affected estimation of population parameters and associations. Appropriate methods for handling censored below-detection-limit(BDL)values in this context were unclear since sampling weights were involved and since bivariate associations/measures were of interest. Both simple substitution(e.g., using 1/2 or 2/3 of the detection limit(DL)for BDL values)and truncation-based strategies were investigated by creating some artificial DLs and comparing resultant estimates with the original studies'uncensored results. The substitution methods generally outperformed the truncation methods, with the(2/3)DL substitution generally performing best. |
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