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ACADEMIA AND CLINIC

Do Oscar Winners Live Longer than Less Successful Peers? A Reanalysis of the Evidence

Marie-Pierre Sylvestre, MSc; Ella Huszti, MSc; and James A. Hanley, PhD

5 September 2006 | Volume 145 Issue 5 | Pages 361-363

In an article published in Annals of Internal Medicine in 2001, Redelmeier and Singh reported that Academy Award–winning actors and actresses lived almost 4 years longer than their less successful peers. However, the statistical method used to derive this statistically significant difference gave winners an unfair advantage because it credited an Oscar winner's years of life before winning toward survival subsequent to winning. When the authors of the current article reanalyzed the data using methods that avoided this "immortal time" bias, the survival advantage was closer to 1 year and was not statistically significant. The type of bias in Redelmeier and Singh's study is not limited to longevity comparisons of persons who reach different ranks within their profession; it can, and often does, occur in nonexperimental studies of life- or time-extending benefits of medical interventions. The current authors suggest ways in which researchers and readers may avoid and recognize this bias.

Author and Article Information

From McGill University and Montréal General Hospital, Montréal, Québec, Canada.

Potential Financial Conflicts of Interest: None disclosed.

Corresponding Author: James A. Hanley, PhD, Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health, McGill University, 1020 Pine Avenue West, Montréal, Québec H3A 1A2, Canada; e-mail, james.hanley{at}mcgill.ca.

Current Author Addresses: Ms. Sylvestre and Huszti and Dr. Hanley: Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health, McGill University, 1020 Pine Avenue West, Montréal, Québec H3A 1A2, Canada.

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Annals 2006 145: 392. [Full Text]  

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