Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 4, 2026

Application of Granger Causality Analysis of the Directed Functional Connection in Alzheimer's Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment
Published on: August 7, 2017
Berkson's paradox and weighted distributions: An application to Alzheimer's disease
Polychronis Economou1, Apostolos Batsidis2, George Tzavelas3
1Department of Civil Engineering, University of Patras, Rion-Patras, Greece.
Abstract:
One reason for observing in practice a false positive or negative correlation between two random variables, which are either not correlated or correlated with a different direction, is the overrepresentation in the sample of individuals satisfying specific properties. In 1946, Berkson first illustrated the presence of a false correlation due to this last reason, which is known as Berkson's paradox and is one of the most famous paradox in probability and statistics. In this paper, the concept of weighted distributions is utilized to describe Berskon's paradox. Moreover, a proper procedure is suggested to make inference for the population given a biased sample which possesses all the characteristics of Berkson's paradox. A real data application for patients with dementia due to Alzheimer's disease demonstrates that the proposed method reveals characteristics of the population that are masked by the sampling procedure.
Related Concept Videos
Parametric Survival Analysis: Weibull and Exponential Methods
Weibull Distribution
The Weibull distribution is a flexible model used in parametric survival analysis. It can handle both increasing and decreasing hazard rates, depending on its shape parameter...
Probability Distributions
A discrete probability distribution is a probability distribution of discrete random variables. It can be categorized into binomial probability distribution and Poisson...
Weighted Mean
For example, consider the number of goals scored in the matches of a tournament. While computing the average number of goals scored in the tournament, it may be more important to...
Alzheimer's Disease: Overview
The clinical diagnosis of AD hinges on the presence of memory and other cognitive impairments. Biomarkers, such as changes in Aβ...
Data: Types and Distribution
Distributions in...
Regression Toward the Mean

