This is a real-world medical entrance exam question, please give the true answer based on the question and selection. Topic name: Confounding and Bias, Subject name: Social & Preventive Medicine
Confounding factor is associated with:- 
Select and explain. 
A. Exposure only, B. Outcome only, C. Both exposure and outcome, D. Neither exposure nor outcome
C: Both exposure and outcome
Answer: C: Both exposure and outcome 
Explanation: Confounding factor Any factor associated with both exposure, outcome and has an independent effect in causation of outcome is a confounder. BEST METHOD TO REMOVE CONFOUNDING:- MATCHING - Removes confounding bias by distributing known confounding factors equally in two groups RANDOMISATION(2ND BEST) RESTRICTION STRATIFICATION STATISTICAL MODELLING/ MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS STRATIFIED RANDOMISATION (BEST METHOD)