TY  - JOUR
T1  - INtravenous cocaine and hiv infection
AU  - French JF
Y1  - 1989/09/15
N1  - 10.1001/jama.1989.03430110061022
JO  - JAMA
SP  - 1471
EP  - 1471
VL  - 262
IS  - 11
N2  - To the Editor. — 
    The article by Chaisson et al1 suggests that intravenous (IV) cocaine use is associated with human immunodeficiency virus infection. However, their data analysis contains methodological flaws and their conclusions make unjustified population generalizations.The multivariate model depicted in Table 1 of the article by Chaisson et al contains two interaction variables, "daily cocaine use, blacks and Hispanics," and "injection >3 times daily, blacks, before methadone treatment," yet includes only one of the four corresponding main effects (black race).The etiologic and mathematical interpretation of nonhierarchical models becomes complex.2,3 In the presence of a significant interaction, the meaning of the main terms is affected by how they are coded; hence, it is unwise to drop them from the model solely on the basis of tests of statistical significance. Hypotheses based on models that include significant interactions without their corresponding main effects are viewed by some
SN  - 0098-7484
M3  - doi: 10.1001/jama.1989.03430110061022
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.1989.03430110061022
ER  -