Dirichlet component regression and its applications to psychiatric data

  • Authors:
  • Ralitza Gueorguieva;Robert Rosenheck;Daniel Zelterman

  • Affiliations:
  • Division of Biostatistics, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, United States;VA Connecticut Healthcare System, West Haven, CT, United States;Division of Biostatistics, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, United States

  • Venue:
  • Computational Statistics & Data Analysis
  • Year:
  • 2008

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Abstract

We describe a Dirichlet multivariable regression method useful for modeling data representing components as a percentage of a total. This model is motivated by the unmet need in psychiatry and other areas to simultaneously assess the effects of covariates on the relative contributions of different components of a measure. The model is illustrated using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) for assessment of schizophrenia symptoms which, like many other metrics in psychiatry, is composed of a sum of scores on several components, each in turn, made up of sums of evaluations on several questions. We simultaneously examine the effects of baseline socio-demographic and co-morbid correlates on all of the components of the total PANSS score of patients from a schizophrenia clinical trial and identify variables associated with increasing or decreasing relative contributions of each component. Several definitions of residuals are provided. Diagnostics include measures of overdispersion, Cook's distance, and a local jackknife influence metric.