1 Department of Pediatrics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27514
Kim et al1 recently reported a case-control study of kernicterus in which they concluded that "analysis of previously suggested risk factors has failed to identify any single factor or combination of factors that could be predictive of the development of kernicterus." Emphasis in their paper was on the lack of statistical significance for most of the factors studied.
The value of this study can be increased by providing a measure of the extent to which the lack of statistical significance stems from the (understandably) small sampie size and concomitant lack of statistical power rather than from a true lack of association of the factors with kernicterus.