Endpoint Analysis and Survival Analysis of Food Poisoning Cluster Questionnaire Data

DOI: 10.6524/TEB.202412_40(24).0001

Donald Jiang^*

2024 Vol.40 NO.24

Correspondence Author： Donald Jiang^*

Abstract：

        The objective of investigating foodborne outbreaks is mainly to identify the causative etiologies and foods related to the incident. Causative foods often cannot be  found by routine testing, instead, we need to use epidemiological methods to explore possible causative foods. Methods for analyzing epidemiological questionnaire data include endpoint analysis and survival analysis. Both methods provide statistical test results, but the survival analysis curves can also show the trend of the disease process. We used both endpoint analysis and survival analysis to explore and compare the results for identifying causative foods that caused a Clostridium perfringens foodborne outbreak after eating a catered lunch among students of a middle school in New Taipei City in 2019. Endpoint analysis of the results showed that eating Kung Pao drumsticks was statistically significantly associated with the outbreak (grade-adjusted relative risk: 3.69, 95% confidence interval: 1.41–9.65). Survival analysis of the results also showed that eating Kung Pao drumsticks was statistically significantly associated with the outbreak (grade-adjusted Cox hazard ratio: 4.09, 95% confidence interval: 1.51–11.12). The latter method, which considered the trend of the disease process, can more accurately estimate the risk of eating Kung Pao drumsticks.