Regression Methods in Biostatistics

This new book provides a unified, in-depth, readable introduction to the multipredictor regression methods most widely used in biostatistics: linear models for continuous outcomes, logistic models for binary outcomes, the Cox model for right-censored survival times, repeated-measures models for longitudinal and hierarchical outcomes, and generalized linear models for counts and other outcomes.

Treating these topics together takes advantage of all they have in common. The authors point out the many-shared elements in the methods they present for selecting, estimating, checking, and interpreting each of these models. They also show that these regression methods deal with confounding, mediation, and interaction of causal effects in essentially the same way.

The examples, analyzed using Stata, are drawn from the biomedical context but generalize to other areas of application. While a first course in statistics is assumed, a chapter reviewing basic statistical methods is included. Some advanced topics are covered but the presentation remains intuitive. A brief introduction to regression analysis of complex surveys and notes for further reading are provided. For many students and researchers learning to use these methods, this one book may be all they need to conduct and interpret multipredictor regression analyses.

The authors are on the faculty in the Division of Biostatistics, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco, and are authors or co-authors of more than 200 methodological as well as applied papers in the biological and biomedical sciences. The senior author, Charles E. McCulloch, is head of the Division and author of Generalized Linear Mixed Models (2003), Generalized, Linear, and Mixed Models (2000), and Variance Components (1992).

Résumé
Theprimarybiostatisticaltoolsinmodernmedicalresearcharesingle-outcome, multiple-predictor methods: multiple linear regression for continuous o- comes, logistic regression for binary outcomes, and the Cox proportional h- ardsmodelfortime-to-eventoutcomes. Morerecently,generalizedlinearm- els and regression methods for repeated outcomes have come into widespread use in the medical research literature. Applying these methods and interpr- ing the results requires some introduction. However, introductory statistics courses have no time to spend on such topics and hence they are often r- egated to a third or fourth course in a sequence. Books tend to have either very brief coverage or to be treatments of a single topic and more theoretical than the typical researcher wants or needs. Our goal in writing this book was to provide an accessible introduction to multipredictor methods, emphasizing their proper use and interpretation. We feel strongly that this can only be accomplished by illustrating the te- niques using a variety of real datasets. We have incorporated as little theory as feasible. Further, we have tried to keep the book relatively short and to the point. Our hope in doing so is that the important issues and similarities between the methods, rather than their di?erences, will come through. We hope this book will be attractive to medical researchers needing familiarity with these methods and to students studying statistics who would like to see them applied to real data.

Contenu
Exploratory and Descriptive Methods.- Basic Statistical Methods.- Linear Regression.- Predictor Selection.- Logistic Regression.- Survival Analysis.- Repeated Measures and Longitudinal Data Analysis.- Generalized Linear Models.- Complex Surveys.- Summary.