Consider a study designed to estimate the role that certain characteristics play on predicting persons who are at greatest risk of developing arthritis in one or more joints. The authors have noted a lost-to-followup rate of 26%. Why is this cause for concern? It is cause for concern because those who remain in the study may be at a systematically higher risk than those not followed It is not cause for concern in this type of study; the concern exists only for randomized trials It is cause for concern because those who remain in the study may be at a systematically higher or lower risk than those not followed It is cause for concern because those who remain in the study may be at a systematically lower risk than those not followed

Consider a study designed to estimate the role that certain characteristics play on predicting persons who are at greatest risk of developing arthritis in one or more joints. The authors have noted a lost-to-followup rate of 26%. Why is this cause for concern? It is cause for concern because those who remain in the study may be at a systematically higher risk than those not followed It is not cause for concern in this type of study; the concern exists only for randomized trials It is cause for concern because those who remain in the study may be at a systematically higher or lower risk than those not followed It is cause for concern because those who remain in the study may be at a systematically lower risk than those not followed

	It is cause for concern because those who remain in the study may be at a systematically higher risk than those not followed
	It is not cause for concern in this type of study; the concern exists only for randomized trials
	It is cause for concern because those who remain in the study may be at a systematically higher or lower risk than those not followed
	It is cause for concern because those who remain in the study may be at a systematically lower risk than those not followed