all draws of the RR distribution, including those that show a protective effect as long as the overall relation for the risk factor across all ages is significant. In other cases, if there are different degrees of exposure for a risk factor, in some exposure categories the RR might not be significant. We have included draws from these posterior distributions if the mean values show a dose–response relation. To fairly represent the extent of our epidemiological knowledge, we have included in the uncertainty analysis draws from the posterior distribution for those exposure categories that show a protective effect.
