DIPLOMA IN BIOCHEMISTRY

BIOSTATISTICS CAT
TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF KENYA
1hr :30mins
BIOSTATISTICS CAT 1
1) Differentiate an Independent event from a mutually exclusive event (2 Marks)

2) Explain what a sampling distribution is (4marks)

3) Differentiate stratified from systematic sampling (4marks)

4) The probability of a disease being cured is 0.5. If a doctor treats 10 patients, what

is the probability that exactly (a) 0 or 1 patient is cured. (5marks)

BIOSTATISTICS CAT 2
1) Explain the central limit theorem (3marks)

2) An investigator wants to estimate the prevalence of breast cancer among women who are
between 40 and 45 years of age living in Boston. How many women must be involved in
the study to ensure that the estimate is precise? National data suggest that 1 in 235
women are diagnosed with breast cancer by age 40. This translates to a proportion of
0.0043 (0.43%) or a prevalence of 43 per 10,000 women. Suppose the investigator wants
the estimate to be within 10 per 10,000 women with 95% confidence. (5marks)

3) A new drug is proposed to lower total cholesterol. A randomized controlled trial is

designed to evaluate the efficacy of the medication in lowering cholesterol. Thirty
participants are enrolled in the trial and are randomly assigned to receive either the
new drug or a placebo. The participants do not know which treatment they are assigned.
Each participant is asked to take the assigned treatment for 6 weeks. At the end of 6 weeks,
each patient's total cholesterol level is measured and the sample statistics are as follows.

Treatment Sample Mean Standard

Size Deviation
New Drug 15 195.9 28.7
Placebo 15 217.4 30.3

Is there statistical evidence of a reduction in mean total cholesterol in patients taking

the new drug for 6 weeks as compared to participants taking placebo. Use 0.05 LOS
(7marks)