Dear all:

One would need to do a prospective case-control study to understand the impact of 
epidurals on breastfeeding in the United States because the proportion of women who do 
not get epidurals is so low and they are typically quite different from other women.  

To get a large enough sample size of nonepidural users without a case control design you 
would need to have an enormous sample size.  Plus, without the case-control study you 
would need to do a lot of statistical manipulation to rule out confounding factors between 
women who chose the epidural and those who did not.  If you could randomize (wouldn't 
that be a thought!) the epidural you could do it with a much lower sample size.  

A case-control study would put the control of confounding into the design from the start and 
there is no reason why it can't be prospective.  

Best, Susan Burger

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET email list is powered by LISTSERV (R).
There is only one LISTSERV. To learn more, visit:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html