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Science
Olympiad » Disease
Detectives Event » National
Event Exercises
Problem Set 2: Potential Health Hazards Associated with the Use of Cellular
Telephones
(recommended time: 15 minutes)
Motor vehicle crashes
resulting in injury are a leading cause of death for young people. With
the explosive use of cell phones, particularly while driving, law
enforcement officials, health care providers, and others have become
concerned about the potential for crashes that occur because of
distraction cased by use of cell phones while driving.
To investigate this
problem, disease detectives at the University of Toronto contacted
licensed drivers in Canada who came to one collision reporting center
during a one-year period to report being involved in a motor vehicle
crash. The investigators concentrated their study among 699 persons who
owned cell phones. Characteristics of these people are shown in Table 1
below.
Table 1:
Characteristics of 699 drivers and collisions
| Characteristic
| Number
| Percentage
(%)
|
| Age
(yr) |
|
|
| <25 |
67 |
(10) |
| 25-39 |
346 |
(49) |
| 30-54 |
227 |
(32) |
| >54 |
59 |
(8) |
| Sex |
|
|
| Male |
502 |
(72) |
| Female |
197 |
(28) |
| High
school graduation |
|
|
| Yes |
615 |
(88) |
| No |
84 |
(12) |
| Type
of job |
|
|
| Professional |
168 |
(24) |
| Other |
531 |
(76) |
| Driving
experience (yrs) |
|
|
| 0-9 |
137 |
(20) |
| 10-19 |
246 |
(35) |
| 20-29 |
188 |
(27) |
| >29 |
128 |
(18) |
| Cellular
telephone experience (yrs) |
|
|
| 0
or 1 |
223 |
(32) |
| 2
or 3 |
174 |
(25) |
| 4
or 5 |
158 |
(23) |
| 6
or greater |
144 |
(21) |
| Type
of cellular telephone |
|
|
| Hand-held |
551 |
(79) |
| Hands-free |
148 |
(21) |
| Time
of collision |
|
|
| Dawn |
19 |
(3) |
| Morning |
268 |
(38) |
| Afternoon |
248 |
(35) |
| Evening |
145 |
(21) |
| Night |
18 |
(3) |
| Late
night |
1 |
(<1) |
| Day
of collision |
|
|
| Sunday |
20 |
(3) |
| Monday |
133 |
(19) |
| Tuesday |
126 |
(18) |
| Wednesday |
159 |
(23) |
| Thursday |
136 |
(19) |
| Friday |
113 |
(16) |
| Saturday |
12 |
(2) |
| Location
of collision |
|
|
| High-speed
location |
597 |
(85) |
| Low-speed
location |
102 |
(15) |
|
- Consult the table
above.
- What conclusions,
if any, about a causal link between motor vehicle crashes and cell
phone usage can you make from this table? Justify your answer. (2
points)
- Based on your
answer to part (a) of this question, how can the data in this table
be used by the disease detectives. (1 point)
Now examine Table 2
below. Investigators used a special statistical technique for generating
risk estimates shown in
Table 2.
Table 2: Relative
risk of a motor vehicle collision in
10-minute periods, according to selected characteristics
| Characteristic
| Number
with telephone use in the 10 minutes before the collision
| Relative
risk
|
| All
subjects |
170 |
4.3 |
| Age
(yr) |
|
|
| <25 |
21 |
6.5 |
| 25-39 |
95 |
4.4 |
| 30-54 |
44 |
3.6 |
| >54 |
10 |
3.3 |
| Sex |
|
|
| Male |
123 |
4.1 |
| Female |
47 |
4.8 |
| High
school graduation |
|
|
| Yes |
153 |
4.0 |
| No |
17 |
9.8 |
| Type
of job |
|
|
| Professional |
34 |
3.6 |
| Other |
136 |
4.5 |
| Driving
experience (yrs) |
|
|
| 0-9 |
40 |
6.2 |
| 10-19 |
67 |
4.3 |
| 20-29 |
36 |
3.0 |
| >29 |
27 |
4.4 |
| Cellular
telephone experience (yrs) |
|
|
| 0
or 1 |
51 |
7.8 |
| 2
or 3 |
39 |
4.0 |
| 4
or 5 |
36 |
2.8 |
| 6
or greater |
44 |
4.1 |
| Type
of cellular telephone |
|
|
| Hand-held |
129 |
3.9 |
| Hands-free |
41 |
5.9 |
|
- Use the data in
Table II to give a profile of drivers who own cellular phones who
are at greater risk of a motor vehicle crash. Explain how you
reached your conclusion. (2 points for profile; 2 points for
explanation)
- Disease Detectives
frequently use a construct known as the agent/host/environment triad
to understand disease and injury occurrence and prevention. Specify
the components of this triad for the problem of motor vehicle
crashes associated with cell phone usage. (3 points)
- Suppose you are a
student in Colorado Springs High School and have been asked by your
science teacher to critique this study. List at least two
limitations to your conclusions. (2 points)
- The Toronto
Disease Detectives concluded that the increased risk of having a
motor vehicle collision while using a cellular telephone was similar
to the hazard associated with driving with a blood alcohol level at
the legal limit. Based on your analysis of the risk profile, the
agent/host/environment triad, and any study limitations, what are
examples of two different kinds or categories of interventions? (2
points)
Answer Key
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