How authors select covariates in the multivariate analysis of cancer studies in 10 oncology journals in Korea: a descriptive study
Purpose Cancer is the leading cause of death in Korea, leading many investigators to focus on cancer research. We present the current practice of variable selection methods for multivariate analyses in cancer studies recently published in major oncology journals in Korea. Methods We included observa...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Korean Council of Science Editors
2024-02-01
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| Series: | Science Editing |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://escienceediting.org/upload/kcse-327.pdf |
| _version_ | 1797295067841429504 |
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| author | Mi Ah Han Hae Ran Kim Sang Eun Yoon Sun Mi Park Boyoung Kim Seo-Hee Kim So-Yeong Kim |
| author_facet | Mi Ah Han Hae Ran Kim Sang Eun Yoon Sun Mi Park Boyoung Kim Seo-Hee Kim So-Yeong Kim |
| author_sort | Mi Ah Han |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Purpose Cancer is the leading cause of death in Korea, leading many investigators to focus on cancer research. We present the current practice of variable selection methods for multivariate analyses in cancer studies recently published in major oncology journals in Korea. Methods We included observational studies investigating associations between exposures and outcomes using multivariate analysis from 10 major oncology journals published in 2021 in KoreaMed, a Korean electronic database. Two reviewers independently and in duplicate performed the reference screening and data extraction. For each study included in this review, we collected important aspects of the variable selection methods in multivariate models, including the study characteristics, analytic methods, and covariate selection methods. The descriptive statistics of the data are presented. Results In total, 107 studies were included. None used prespecified covariate selection methods, and half of the studies did not provide enough information to classify covariate selection methods. Among the studies reporting selection methods, almost all studies only used data-driven methods, despite having study questions related to causality. The most commonly used method for variable selection was significance in the univariate model, with the outcome as the dependent variable. Conclusion Half of the included studies did not provide sufficient information to assess the variable selection method, and most used a limited data-driven method. We believe that the reporting of covariate selection methods requires improvement, and our results can be used to educate researchers, editors, and reviewers to increase the transparency and adequacy of covariate selection for multivariable analyses in observational studies. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T21:41:22Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3bbcbae57dee4016aace88444ee622ab |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2288-8063 2288-7474 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T21:41:22Z |
| publishDate | 2024-02-01 |
| publisher | Korean Council of Science Editors |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Science Editing |
| spelling | doaj.art-3bbcbae57dee4016aace88444ee622ab2024-02-26T07:50:16ZengKorean Council of Science EditorsScience Editing2288-80632288-74742024-02-01111263210.6087/kcse.327336How authors select covariates in the multivariate analysis of cancer studies in 10 oncology journals in Korea: a descriptive studyMi Ah Han0Hae Ran Kim1Sang Eun Yoon2Sun Mi Park3Boyoung Kim4Seo-Hee Kim5So-Yeong Kim6 Department of Preventive Medicine, Chosun University College of Medicine, Gwangju, Korea Department of Nursing, Chosun University College of Medicine, Gwangju, Korea Department of Public Health, Chosun University Graduate School, Gwangju, Korea Department of Preventive Medicine, Chosun University College of Medicine, Gwangju, Korea Chonnam National University College of Nursing, Gwangju, Korea Department of Preventive Medicine, Chosun University College of Medicine, Gwangju, Korea Department of Preventive Medicine, Chosun University College of Medicine, Gwangju, KoreaPurpose Cancer is the leading cause of death in Korea, leading many investigators to focus on cancer research. We present the current practice of variable selection methods for multivariate analyses in cancer studies recently published in major oncology journals in Korea. Methods We included observational studies investigating associations between exposures and outcomes using multivariate analysis from 10 major oncology journals published in 2021 in KoreaMed, a Korean electronic database. Two reviewers independently and in duplicate performed the reference screening and data extraction. For each study included in this review, we collected important aspects of the variable selection methods in multivariate models, including the study characteristics, analytic methods, and covariate selection methods. The descriptive statistics of the data are presented. Results In total, 107 studies were included. None used prespecified covariate selection methods, and half of the studies did not provide enough information to classify covariate selection methods. Among the studies reporting selection methods, almost all studies only used data-driven methods, despite having study questions related to causality. The most commonly used method for variable selection was significance in the univariate model, with the outcome as the dependent variable. Conclusion Half of the included studies did not provide sufficient information to assess the variable selection method, and most used a limited data-driven method. We believe that the reporting of covariate selection methods requires improvement, and our results can be used to educate researchers, editors, and reviewers to increase the transparency and adequacy of covariate selection for multivariable analyses in observational studies.http://escienceediting.org/upload/kcse-327.pdfcausalityconfounding factorsepidemiologicmultivariate analysisneoplasms |
| spellingShingle | Mi Ah Han Hae Ran Kim Sang Eun Yoon Sun Mi Park Boyoung Kim Seo-Hee Kim So-Yeong Kim How authors select covariates in the multivariate analysis of cancer studies in 10 oncology journals in Korea: a descriptive study Science Editing causality confounding factors epidemiologic multivariate analysis neoplasms |
| title | How authors select covariates in the multivariate analysis of cancer studies in 10 oncology journals in Korea: a descriptive study |
| title_full | How authors select covariates in the multivariate analysis of cancer studies in 10 oncology journals in Korea: a descriptive study |
| title_fullStr | How authors select covariates in the multivariate analysis of cancer studies in 10 oncology journals in Korea: a descriptive study |
| title_full_unstemmed | How authors select covariates in the multivariate analysis of cancer studies in 10 oncology journals in Korea: a descriptive study |
| title_short | How authors select covariates in the multivariate analysis of cancer studies in 10 oncology journals in Korea: a descriptive study |
| title_sort | how authors select covariates in the multivariate analysis of cancer studies in 10 oncology journals in korea a descriptive study |
| topic | causality confounding factors epidemiologic multivariate analysis neoplasms |
| url | http://escienceediting.org/upload/kcse-327.pdf |
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