Ecological study

Also called as CORELATIONAL STUDY

Is an observational study in which at least one
variable is measured at the group level.

Let's look at an example to understand what a

group-level variable is.

 Example 1: Results from an ecological study

International comparison of prostate cancer
mortality rates with dietary practices and
sunlight levels. Urologic Oncology
2006:24;184-194.

 In Fig 1 :
x-axis : per capita sugar calories consumed per
day.
y-axis : age-adjusted mortality rate for prostate
cancer.
Each dot represents a country, plotting the percapita sugar consumption and the age-adjusted
prostate cancer mortality rate for that particular
country.

 Per-capita sugar consumption is an ecological

variable because it is the average measure of exposure
to sugar for all the people in the country.
It does not mean that every person in the country ate
exactly the same amount of sugar.

Similarly, the mortality rate is a group-level variable

because it represents the country's experience, not any
individual person's experience in the country.
Neither of these variables are at the individual-level.

 Do the data support the hypothesis that

increased sugar consumption is associated with
increased prostate cancer mortality? - YES!

Do the data determine that sugar consumption

causes prostate cancer death? NO!

 Three types of ecological variables:

Aggregate Variables
A summary or composite measure derived from values collected from
individuals.
Ex- would be the mean blood pressure or the rate of disease.
Here blood pressure is recorded for each individual in the study but the
data are collapsed to a mean summary measure for all people in the
study.
Similarly, only individuals get a cancer, but the rate of cancer is a
summary measure for all the individuals in that population.
Aggregate variables can measure exposure (e.g., mean blood pressure)
or outcome (rate of disease) variables.
One limitation with aggregate measures is that there is variation within
the population - not all the individuals in the population have the
average blood pressure.

 Environmental Variables
A measure of the physical characteristics of the environment in
which people reside, work, recreate or attend school.
Ex- we might hypothesize that rainfall is a risk for a fungal
disease or the content of minerals in drinking water are
protective for a certain disease. Therefore, environmental
variables would be the mean rainfall in a geographic area or the
mean level of minerals in drinking water. Environmental
variables measure exposure, not outcomes.

One limitation of an environmental variable is that there is

variation in exposure levels for individuals in the population.

 Global Variables (Measure Exposure)

A measure of the attributes of groups, organizations, or
places for which there is no analogue at the individual
level.
Ex- : population density would be another global
variable because crowding might be an important
exposure. There is no individual population density!
Global variables measure exposures, not outcomes

 ECOLOGICAL FALLACY : the results are

not applicable to individual level..since the
data is expressed as a group variable.