Using the random forest method to detect a response shift in the quality of life of multiple sclerosis patients: a cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Multiple sclerosis (MS), a common neurodegenerative disease, has well-described associations with quality of life (QoL) impairment. QoL changes found in longitudinal studies are difficult to interpret due to the potential response shift (RS) corresponding to respondents' changing standards, values, and conceptualization of QoL. This study proposes to test the capacity of Random Forest (RF) for detecting RS reprioritization as the relative importance of QoL domains' changes over time.

Methods

This was a longitudinal observational study. The main inclusion criteria were patients 18 years old or more with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. Every 6 months up to month 24, QoL was recorded using generic and MS-specific questionnaires (MusiQoL and SF-36). At 24 mont

SUBMITTER: Boucekine M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3626785 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature