PH6420 Fall 2015 : Assignment 6

Due: December 7, 2015

Overview
This assignment will give you experience in performing basic statistical analyses using SAS.
Hand in the program for Parts A and B and answer all questions.
PART A:
1.

Create a SAS dataset reading in the variables group, pulsebl, pulse12, potassbl,
potass12, and se12_10 (cough at 12 months) from tomhs.dat (or use the tomhs permanent
SAS dataset). Use LRECL=400 on the INFILE statement if you use the raw data file
since the variable se12_10 is beyond the 256th position.
Reminder: group 1 = beta-blocker; 2= calcium channel blocker; 3=diuretic; 4=alpha
blocker; 5=ace inhibitor; 6=placebo.

2.

Compute new variables for the change in pulse and change in potassium (12 month
values baseline). Compute a new variable called cough12 equal to 1 if se12_10
(cough) = 2,3 or 4 and equal to 2 if se12_10 = 1.

3.

ACE inhibitors (group=5) are reported to cause cough. Test this using a chi-square test
that compares the cough rate at 12 months between the ACE group and all other groups
combined. Does the ACE inhibitor appear to increase the cough rate in this study?

4.

Diuretics (group=3) usually cause blood potassium to be lowered. Test this using a t-test
that compares the average change in potassium levels in the diuretic group with the
average change for all other groups combined. Does the diuretic group appear to lower
potassium in this study?

Note: You may want to define new variables called ace (=1 if in ace group and 0 otherwise) and
diur (=1 if in diuretic group and 0 otherwise) in the data step to do parts 3 and 4.
5.

Beta-blockers (group=1) usually cause the pulse rate to lower. Use the GLM procedure to
test if there are significant differences among the six groups for the change in pulse rate.
Use estimate statements to compare the beta-blocker group with each of the other five
groups. Which groups are significantly different (p<0.05) from the beta-blocker group.

PART B:
1.

In a reported case-control study of prostate cancer 63 men who died of prostate cancer
were compared with 63 men who did not die of prostate cancer (controls) for prostatespecific antigen (PSA) levels determined from frozen sera 25 years prior. Of the 63
prostate cancer deaths 21 had elevated PSA levels compared to 8 of the 63 in the control
group.
a. Construct the 2 by 2 table of case-control status and PSA level (high versus not
high).
Elevated PSA

Not Elevated PSA

Case
Control

b.

Using SAS compute the Chi-square test of whether the proportion of cases with
high PSA levels differ from the controls. Using p=0.05 is there a significant
difference? What is the estimate of the odds ratio and the 95% CI for that
estimate?