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5 .2 . 1 Comparinq clinic a t t e nde r a a nd non- lltte nd e rs:
Baseline c ha r a c t e r i s t i c s
12 1
Because morbidity findings ba sed so lely on study SUbj ects
who were suc cess f ully f ollowed u p in the s tudy i s like l y t o be
biased i f sig n i fica nt difference s existed be t ween t he
c ha r a c t e r i s t i cs of SUbjects who a t tended t he clinic a s
requested and thos e who f a i l e d to a t tend , i t was ne ce s sary t o
compa re t he t wo groups of subjects by their baseline
c h ar a c t e r i s t i cs t o determine if s pecifi c c ha r a c t e r i s tics
i nflue nced c lini c at tend ance , and therefo r e t he morbi d i ty
find i ngs. I f a ny general isat ions are to be made o f the s t ud y
f indings o btained f r om successfully follo wed SUbj ects, then
signi f ican t differences should no t a lso occur be tw een t hos e
see n and t hos e not seen.
All c linic a t tenders (A) (FIG 10 1) , were compar ed to non ­
a t t end e r s (B ) by the variou s ba s eline variables using Chi­
s qu are t e s t a nd St udent s t - tes t to r un i variate t e s t i ng where
a p pr o pr iat e . Shdlll.rly a ll who were seen (e) , tha t is
inc l uding non-a t t e nd e r s who were l a ter f ou nd , were corn.pare d t.o
t.h os e who were ne ver f ou nd ( D) . La s t.ly t.hos e non- a t t e nders who
we r e ne ver f ound (D) and we r e compared to t ho se non- atte nders
who were f ou nd (E ). Th e p r o babili t y v a l ues (P) ob tai ned f r om
t he se un i v a r i a t e c ompari sons are pre s en t e d i n TABLE 2 .3.