IAN COOKE

Homework 01 (Class 02) due Monday October 6th

The Coronary Artery Risk Development in (young) Adults (CARDIA) Study is a longitudinal
study initiated in 1984 to investigate lifestyle and other factors that influence the evolution of
coronary heart disease risk factors during young adulthood. A total of 5,115 blacks and whites,
men and women, aged 18-30 years, were recruited and examined in 1985-86 in one of four
different cities: Birmingham, Alabama; Chicago, Illinois; Minneapolis, Minnesota; or Oakland,
California.
The file hw01.dta is a Stata data file containing data on waist circumference (WC) (cm), body
mass index (BMI) (kg/m2), and waist/hip ratio (WHR) at baseline in white females from the
Chicago center of CARDIA (n = 280). BMI is generally used as a measure of total adiposity,
while waist circumference and the waist/hip ratio are used as measures of central adiposity.
Use Stata and this data file to do the following:
1. Obtain scatter plots with linear fitted line and lowess line of 1) BMI with waist circumference,
and 2) BMI with waist hip ratio. Treat BMI as the outcome.
Stata command:
twoway (scatter bmi waist)(lfit bmi waist)
(lowess bmi waist)

Stata command:

Plot of BMI with waist circumference

Plot of BMI with waist hip ratio

twoway (scatter bmi wsthip)(lfit bmi wsthip)

(lowess bmi wsthip)

Based on the two scatter plots, which of the two measurements appears to have a stronger
association with BMI? Explain your choice.
The waist circumference appears to have a stronger association with BMI there is a more
apparent linearity to the scatter plot.
Does the lowess plot indicate that the linear model is reasonable for waist circumference and
BMI? For WHR and BMI?
The lowess plot very closely approximates the linear model for waist circumference and BMI
so this linear model is reasonable. On WHR and BMI on the other hand, the lowess and
regression line are not nearly as tightly bound and the linear model is not reasonable in this
case.

PH421 HW01

2. Obtain the linear regression of BMI on waist circumference.

Stata command: regress bmi waist

1 What is the regression equation relating mean BMI to waist circumference?

B1 = .4015944, B2 = -6.091344
BMI = -6.091344 + 0.4015944*waist circumference
2

Perform a two-sided hypothesis testing of the slope of WC with a significance level of

0.05. (i.e. Test H0: 1=0)
df = n p 1 = n 2 = 280 2 = 278
t calculated from table = 32.60
t critical for df=200 (estimate, couldnt find t value for df=278) = 1.97
t calculated is outside of the range for our critical t value
thus, we reject H0 and accept H1 that B1 is not equal to 0.
3

Use the ANOVA table to compute the R2 and adjusted R2 and interpret the values.

R2 = Model SS/Total SS = 0.7926

Interpretation:
Waist circumference is responsible for 79%
of the variation in BMI. This also indicates
that a linear model does a fairly good job of
describing the relationship between BMI and
waist circumference.

Adjusted R2 = 1 (Residual SS/Total SS)*(n1)/(n-2) = 0.7919

Interpretation:
This R value is not perfect, but shows that
there is a fairly good fit of the linear model.

3. Run the linear regression of BMI on waist hip ratio and compare the adjusted R2 with BMI
regressed on waist circumference.
regress bmi wsthip
R2 = 0.2013
Adjusted R2 = 0.1984
In this case, waist to hip ratio is only responsible for about 20% of the variation in BMI this
regression does not do a good job of describing the relationship between BMI and waist hip
ratio.