Some statistical methods for investigating the date of birth as a disease indicator

Chap T Le, Ping Liu, Bruce R Lindgren, Kathleen A. Daly, G. Scott Giebink

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

Some methods of temporal statistics are presented and proposed for investigating the date of birth as a disease predictor. A subject's birthday is proposed to be used as a continuous variable with a circular distribution, a special type of interval scale without a true zero point. Three types of endpoints are then considered: a dichotomous endpoint; a continuous endpoint; and time-to-event. A study of otitis media is used for illustration. We found, for example, that children born in late winter to early spring tend to have higher cord blood pneumococcal antibody concentration and lower risk of disease as compared to those born in summer to early fall perhaps due largely to exposure to indoor pollution by pregnant mothers.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)2127-2135
Number of pages9
JournalStatistics in Medicine
Volume22
Issue number13
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 15 2003

Keywords

  • Circular distribution
  • Date of birth
  • Disease indicator
  • Otitis media

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