Correspondence analysis in medical research

Stat Methods Med Res. 1992;1(1):97-117. doi: 10.1177/096228029200100106.

Abstract

Various applications of correspondence analysis to biomedical data are presented. The basic concepts of profile, mass and chi-squared distance are introduced in an initial simple example using data on the relationship between headache types and age. The main result of the correspondence analysis is a geometric map of this relationship showing how the relative frequencies of headache types change with age. A second example maps the association between personality types and various medical diagnostic groups, while a third example deals with categorical rating scales such as an efficacy scale for a medication or a scale of pain. A final example illustrates the more complex situation when several categorical variables are involved using test data on a collection of bacterial isolates, with the object of comparing bacterial types and understanding the inter-relationships of the different tests.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Age Factors
  • Brucella melitensis / classification
  • Child
  • Data Interpretation, Statistical*
  • Headache / classification
  • Humans
  • Mathematical Computing
  • Middle Aged
  • Personality / classification
  • Software
  • Survival Analysis