Gerontology & Geriatric Research

Abstract

The Odds Ratio: A Primer for Geriatric Clinicians

Michael Malek-Ahmadi

The odds ratio (OR) is a statistic that is used to quantify the degree of risk increase or decrease of a particular outcome given the presence of a particular risk factor. The OR is a statistic that is used when the outcome variable is binary (e.g., disease/no disease; yes/no) and can have either categorical or continuous variables as the predictor variable(s). The value of 1.00 is the anchor for which ORs are interpreted in terms of risk increase or decrease. The value of 1.00 indicates no risk increase or decrease, while values greater than 1.00 indicate a risk increase and values less than 1.00 indicate a risk decrease.