Table 2

Example uses of ORs

Example quotes*Effect size interpretation†Correct interpretation‡n
(%, 95% CI)§
“In adjusted analyses, gay and bisexual men were more likely than heterosexual men to have poor physical health (AOR = 1.38), disability (AOR = 1.26), and poor mental health (AOR = 1.77).
“Both 30-day mortality (OR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.73 to 0.80) and 90-day mortality (OR, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.70 to 0.76) were significantly lower for azithromycin users.
“The primary outcome analysis showed a common odds ratio of improvement in the distribution of the modified Rankin scale score of 1.7 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.05 to 2.8) favoring thrombectomy.
No306 (76.5, 72.5 to 80.6)
“This represented a 53% reduction in the risk of coronary heart disease among carriers of inactivating NPC1L1 mutations (odds ratio for disease among carriers, 0.47; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.25 to 0.87; P=0.008).”
“Households with a member who received information about chickens from a seminar are 8.3 times more likely to be aware of the vaccine (AOR: 8.32, 95% CI: 2 to 39, p<0.01).”
“Patients in the highest tertile of risk using the combined clinical and genetic model had a 7-fold increased risk of early stent thrombosis vs patients in the lowest tertile (OR, 7.63; 95% CI, 4.18 to 13.91).”
YesNo54 (13.5, 10.1 to 16.9)
“Each 1-SD increase in baseline log omega-3 fatty acid levels was associated with a 19% decrease in the odds of telomere shortening (unadjusted odds ratio, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.69 to 0.95).”
“The marginal probabilities indicate that the percentage reporting fair or poor health was reduced by 4.8 percentage points (95% CI=0.8, 8.9; p=0.02) for current public housing residents.”
“In contrast, we predict that a vaccination program would cause 41 excess hospitalizations (approximately 1 per 51 000 vaccinated infants) and 2 deaths due to intussusception in Mexico and 55 excess hospitalizations (approximately 1 per 68 000 vaccinated infants) and 3 deaths in Brazil.”
YesYes40 (10, 7.0 to 13.0)
  • *Each quote is an exact quote from an article meeting the inclusion criteria. Citations have been omitted to avoid singling out any given research group.

  • †Yes/No indicates if the study made an explicitly written interpretation of the magnitude of any reported OR.

  • ‡Yes/No indicates if the study made a correct interpretation of the magnitude of any reported OR.

  • §Reports the corresponding n and prevalence with 95% CIs in parentheses.

  • AOR, adjusted OR.