Malinovsky Yaakov, Albert Paul S, Schisterman Enrique F
Division of Epidemiology, Statistics, and Prevention Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.
Biometrics. 2012 Mar;68(1):45-52. doi: 10.1111/j.1541-0420.2011.01673.x. Epub 2011 Oct 9.
Due to the rising cost of laboratory assays, it has become increasingly common in epidemiological studies to pool biospecimens. This is particularly true in longitudinal studies, where the cost of performing multiple assays over time can be prohibitive. In this article, we consider the problem of estimating the parameters of a Gaussian random effects model when the repeated outcome is subject to pooling. We consider different pooling designs for the efficient maximum likelihood estimation of variance components, with particular attention to estimating the intraclass correlation coefficient. We evaluate the efficiencies of different pooling design strategies using analytic and simulation study results. We examine the robustness of the designs to skewed distributions and consider unbalanced designs. The design methodology is illustrated with a longitudinal study of premenopausal women focusing on assessing the reproducibility of F2-isoprostane, a biomarker of oxidative stress, over the menstrual cycle.
由于实验室检测成本不断上升，在流行病学研究中合并生物样本变得越来越普遍。在纵向研究中尤其如此，因为随着时间的推移进行多次检测的成本可能高得令人望而却步。在本文中，我们考虑当重复结果受到合并影响时，估计高斯随机效应模型参数的问题。我们考虑不同的合并设计以对方差分量进行有效最大似然估计，特别关注估计组内相关系数。我们使用分析和模拟研究结果评估不同合并设计策略的效率。我们研究这些设计对偏态分布的稳健性，并考虑不平衡设计。通过一项针对绝经前女性的纵向研究来说明设计方法，该研究重点评估氧化应激生物标志物F2-异前列腺素在月经周期中的可重复性。
