Multidimensional reduction of multicentric cohort heterogeneity: An alternative method to increase statistical power and robustness

作者：Le Gall Caroline; Laurent Julie; Vince Nicolas; Lizee Antoine; Agrawal Alisha; Walencik Alexandre; Rettman Pauline; Gagne Katia; Retiere Christelle; Hollenbach Jill; Ce**ron Anne; Limou Sophie; Gourraud Pierre Antoine^*

来源：Human Immunology, 2016, 77(11): 1024-1029.

DOI：10.1016/j.humimm.2016.05.013

• Multidimensional reduction
• Multiple correspondence analyses
• Multicentric cohort
• Heterogeneity
• Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

Modern clinical research takes advantage of multicentric cohorts to increase sample size and gain in statistical power. However, combining individuals from different recruitment centers provides heterogeneity in the dataset that needs to be accounted for to obtain robust results. Sophisticated statistical multivariate models adjusting for center effect can be implemented, but they can become unstable and can be complex to interpret with the increasing number of covariates to consider. Here, we present a multidimensional reduction technique to identify heterogeneity in a French multicentric cohort of hematopoietic stem cell transplantations and characterize a homogeneous subgroup prior to performing simple statistical univariate analyses. The exclusion of outliers allowed the identification of two genetic factors associated with post-transplantation overall survival. We therefore provide proof-of-concept that a sample size reduction method can efficiently account for heterogeneity and center effect in multicentric cohorts while increasing statistical power and robustness for discovery of new association signals.

• 出版日期2016-11
• 单位MIT; NIH