A test for detecting etiologic heterogeneity in epidemiological studies


Karagulle S., KALAYLIOĞLU AKYILDIZ Z. I.

JOURNAL OF APPLIED STATISTICS, cilt.43, sa.3, ss.538-549, 2016 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 43 Sayı: 3
  • Basım Tarihi: 2016
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1080/02664763.2015.1070808
  • Dergi Adı: JOURNAL OF APPLIED STATISTICS
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.538-549
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: cancer, disease subtype, odds ratio, polychotomous logistic regression, risk factor, score test, BREAST-CANCER RISK, TUMOR CHARACTERISTICS, HORMONE-RECEPTOR, POLYMORPHISMS, SUBTYPES, ASSOCIATIONS, REGRESSION, SCORE
  • Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Current statistical methods for analyzing epidemiological data with disease subtype information allow us to acquire knowledge not only for risk factor-disease subtype association but also, on a more profound account, heterogeneity in these associations by multiple disease characteristics (so-called etiologic heterogeneity of the disease). Current interest, particularly in cancer epidemiology, lies in obtaining a valid p-value for testing the hypothesis whether a particular cancer is etiologically heterogeneous. We consider the two-stage logistic regression model along with pseudo-conditional likelihood estimation method and design a testing strategy based on Rao's score test. An extensive Monte Carlo simulation study is carried out, false discovery rate and statistical power of the suggested test are investigated. Simulation results indicate that applying the proposed testing strategy, even a small degree of true etiologic heterogeneity can be recovered with a large statistical power from the sampled data. The strategy is then applied on a breast cancer data set to illustrate its use in practice where there are multiple risk factors and multiple disease characteristics of simultaneous concern.