PHARM 480: FINAL EXAM PRACTICE | 180 QUESTIONS
AND ANSWERS | WITH COMPLETE SOLUTIONS.
you are discussing your friend's research project and she says her primary
outcome had a mean of 30, a median of 36 and a mode of 39. this tells you the
nature of the outcome was:
a. continuous, with a normal distribution
b. continuous, with a skewed distribution
c. ordinal
d. nominal Answer - continuous, with a skewed distribution
the mean age of a population is 48 years with a standard deviation of 11. which
of the following must be true?
a. the youngest person in the population is 26 years old
b. the oldest person in the population is 81 years old
c. 95% of the population is between 26 and 70 years old
d. 99% of the population is between 26 and 70 years old Answer - 95% of the
population is between 26 and 70 years old
assume normal serum potassium is 3.6 to 5.0 mmol/L. if your serum potassium
is measured as 4.9 mmol/L which statement below is most accurate?
a. your potassium is with 1 standard deviation of the mean
b. your potassium is with 2 standard deviations of the mean
c. your potassium is with 3 standard deviations of the mean Answer - your
potassium is with 2 standard deviations of the mean
,if 2 drugs are compared to each other in a study, and the difference has a 95%
confidence interval of 15 to 45 units, which statement is true?
a. a true difference of 51 is possible
b. a true difference of 51 is unlikely but possible
c. a true difference of 51 is highly likely Answer - a true difference of 51 is
unlikely but possible
a study of 64 people took a medication to lower blood pressure. the average
reduction in systolic pressure was 10 mmHg with a standard deviation of 6.
what is the 95% confidence internal for true reduction in systolic pressure?
a. 4 to 16
b. 9.9 to 10.1
c. 8.5 to 11.5
d. we cannot calculate Answer - 8.5 to 11.5
if 2 drugs are compared to each other in a study, and the difference has a 95%
confidence interval of 15 to 45 units, what is the standard error of the mean?
a. 7.5
b. 15
c. 30
d. it is not possible to calculate Answer - 7.5
two drugs are compared to each other and the difference is not statistically
significant, with p=0.22. which statement is true?
a. the 2 drugs are noninferior to each other
b. the difference between drugs is quite large
c. we have insufficient information to draw any conclusion
,d. the study made a type 1 error Answer - we have insufficient information to
draw any conclusion
a drug was found to reduce the risk of acute renal failure in hospitalized
patients and p was 0.02. if the study investigators conclude the drug is
effective, which potential error could they be making?
a. type 1
b. type 2
c. neither, since the effect is statistically significant Answer - type 1
if need to be 99% confident about an estimate of a drug effect, we would need
to take the mean of our study's primary outcome plus/minus:
a. one standard error
b. two standard deviations
c. three standard errors
d. three standard deviations Answer - three standard errors
if a study reports a hazard ratio you would expect the study to have used a:
a. regression analysis
b. comparison of confidence intervals
c. meta-analysis
d. time to event analysis Answer - time to event analysis
if most of the p values for the outcomes in a study are <0.05, we know the
study had good internal validity
a. true
b. false Answer - false
, in comparing two drugs, drug A was superior to drug B on the primary outcome
with a one-sided p value of 0.01. which of the following must be true?
a. confounding is highly unlikely
b. the difference in drug response is quite large
c. if drug responses vary randomly, the probability of this difference occuring
by chance alone is 1 in 100
d. all of the above Answer - if drug responses vary randomly, the probability of
this difference occuring by chance alone is 1 in 100
if you are doing a superiority study and want to set it up to increase the
probability of a finding statistically significant difference in outcome, what is
appropriate to do?
a. decrease the size of your clinically relevant
b. lower the alpha error by reducing the level of p value considered significant
c. decrease the variability of your sample subjects
d. all of the above Answer - decrease the variability of your sample subjects
which of the following has greater power to detect a relevant difference for any
given outcome?
a. one study with 34,000 patients
b. a meta-analysis with a total of 21,000 patients Answer - one study with
34,000 patients
if a study plans to have 85% power to detect a difference of 10 points and uses
a p value of 0.05 as the threshold to reject the null hypothesis, what is the risk
of a type 2 error?
a. 5%
b. 10%
c. 15%
AND ANSWERS | WITH COMPLETE SOLUTIONS.
you are discussing your friend's research project and she says her primary
outcome had a mean of 30, a median of 36 and a mode of 39. this tells you the
nature of the outcome was:
a. continuous, with a normal distribution
b. continuous, with a skewed distribution
c. ordinal
d. nominal Answer - continuous, with a skewed distribution
the mean age of a population is 48 years with a standard deviation of 11. which
of the following must be true?
a. the youngest person in the population is 26 years old
b. the oldest person in the population is 81 years old
c. 95% of the population is between 26 and 70 years old
d. 99% of the population is between 26 and 70 years old Answer - 95% of the
population is between 26 and 70 years old
assume normal serum potassium is 3.6 to 5.0 mmol/L. if your serum potassium
is measured as 4.9 mmol/L which statement below is most accurate?
a. your potassium is with 1 standard deviation of the mean
b. your potassium is with 2 standard deviations of the mean
c. your potassium is with 3 standard deviations of the mean Answer - your
potassium is with 2 standard deviations of the mean
,if 2 drugs are compared to each other in a study, and the difference has a 95%
confidence interval of 15 to 45 units, which statement is true?
a. a true difference of 51 is possible
b. a true difference of 51 is unlikely but possible
c. a true difference of 51 is highly likely Answer - a true difference of 51 is
unlikely but possible
a study of 64 people took a medication to lower blood pressure. the average
reduction in systolic pressure was 10 mmHg with a standard deviation of 6.
what is the 95% confidence internal for true reduction in systolic pressure?
a. 4 to 16
b. 9.9 to 10.1
c. 8.5 to 11.5
d. we cannot calculate Answer - 8.5 to 11.5
if 2 drugs are compared to each other in a study, and the difference has a 95%
confidence interval of 15 to 45 units, what is the standard error of the mean?
a. 7.5
b. 15
c. 30
d. it is not possible to calculate Answer - 7.5
two drugs are compared to each other and the difference is not statistically
significant, with p=0.22. which statement is true?
a. the 2 drugs are noninferior to each other
b. the difference between drugs is quite large
c. we have insufficient information to draw any conclusion
,d. the study made a type 1 error Answer - we have insufficient information to
draw any conclusion
a drug was found to reduce the risk of acute renal failure in hospitalized
patients and p was 0.02. if the study investigators conclude the drug is
effective, which potential error could they be making?
a. type 1
b. type 2
c. neither, since the effect is statistically significant Answer - type 1
if need to be 99% confident about an estimate of a drug effect, we would need
to take the mean of our study's primary outcome plus/minus:
a. one standard error
b. two standard deviations
c. three standard errors
d. three standard deviations Answer - three standard errors
if a study reports a hazard ratio you would expect the study to have used a:
a. regression analysis
b. comparison of confidence intervals
c. meta-analysis
d. time to event analysis Answer - time to event analysis
if most of the p values for the outcomes in a study are <0.05, we know the
study had good internal validity
a. true
b. false Answer - false
, in comparing two drugs, drug A was superior to drug B on the primary outcome
with a one-sided p value of 0.01. which of the following must be true?
a. confounding is highly unlikely
b. the difference in drug response is quite large
c. if drug responses vary randomly, the probability of this difference occuring
by chance alone is 1 in 100
d. all of the above Answer - if drug responses vary randomly, the probability of
this difference occuring by chance alone is 1 in 100
if you are doing a superiority study and want to set it up to increase the
probability of a finding statistically significant difference in outcome, what is
appropriate to do?
a. decrease the size of your clinically relevant
b. lower the alpha error by reducing the level of p value considered significant
c. decrease the variability of your sample subjects
d. all of the above Answer - decrease the variability of your sample subjects
which of the following has greater power to detect a relevant difference for any
given outcome?
a. one study with 34,000 patients
b. a meta-analysis with a total of 21,000 patients Answer - one study with
34,000 patients
if a study plans to have 85% power to detect a difference of 10 points and uses
a p value of 0.05 as the threshold to reject the null hypothesis, what is the risk
of a type 2 error?
a. 5%
b. 10%
c. 15%
