Work

Brief Report: Assessing and Interpreting the Association Between Continuous Covariates and Outcomes in Observational Studies of HIV Using Splines

Year: 2016

Type: article

Abstract: The HIV epidemiology literature is replete with studies that categorize continuous predictors, such as age and CD4 cell count. It is well known that such an approach is suboptimal, but it persists in part because results are easy to interpret after categorization. Splines may be used to incorporate continuous predictors with smoothed curves into regression models without categorization or linearity assumptions. Properly presenting and interpreting results from analyses with splines is critical for their widespread use. With data from 13,706 antiretroviral initiators in Latin America, we demonstrate how to interpret results from a Cox regression model using restricted cubic splines.

Source: JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes

DOI: 10.1097/qai.0000000000001221

Authors: Bryan E. Shepherd, Peter F. Rebeiro, the Caribbean, Central and South America network for HIV epidemiology

Institution: Vanderbilt University

Language: English

Topic: Statistical Methods in Epidemiology

Subfield: Statistics and Probability

Field: Mathematics

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funder: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases