Please form reply for a discussion board to this student's post.

**Posts to classmates' articles should include critical thought, including questions, comments, or other points of view that show scholarly thought (points will not be awarded for "I agree" or "interesting article" posts that do not add to the content of the discussion).

Student: Rajwinder Kaur

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0112838

1. What is the research hypothesis or research question? (5 pts)

A survival analysis of all the confirmed cases of adult Tuberculosis patients treated in Cork-City, Ireland.

The aim of the study was to estimate the survival time (ST) including median time of survival and to assess the associate and impact of covariates (TB risk factors) to even status and ST.

1. What is the main study variable(s)? How would you describe the variables (independent vs dependent; what level of measurement are they; are they continuous or discrete; etc)? (5 pts)

Independent variable: male/emale diagnosed with TB

Dependent variable: the time of event occurred. The event was either treatment failure or death (whichever came first).

The time was a continuous variable and measured at the interval level.

1. What statistical test was used? (5 pts)

A univariate descriptive statistics analysis was conducted using a non-parametric procedure. Kaplan-Meier method to estimate overall survival, while the Cox proportional hazard model was used for the multivariate analysis to determine possible associate of predictor variables and to obtain adjusted hazard ration. P value was set at <0.05. Data was analyzed using SPSS.

1. What conclusions were made based on the results of the statistical test? (5 pts)

There was no significant difference in survival curves of males and females among the age group. Women had a higher survival time compared to men. But men had a higher hazard rate compared to women. Anti-TNF, immunosuppressive medication, and diabetes were found to be associated with a longer survival time, while alcohol, smoking, was associated with a shorter survival time.

This study was retracted due to concerns being raised about the survival analysis method. There were inaccuracies in the number of bacterial confirmed TB patients. Some patients were overrepresented in the dataset. Additionally, it was reported that the author did not get approval from the listed co-authors.

Nevertheless, I felt the study covered the topic of survival analysis well. It was a learning experience for me in regard to ensuring methods of conducting research are accurate. And that getting consent from all authors of the research is an integral part of a good research study.

1. Provide the citation for the article in APA format. (3 pts)

Ajagbe, O., Kabair, Z., (2014). Survival analysis of adult tuberculosis disease. Plos One. 9(11), e112838 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0112838