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Comparison of Treatments with Multiple Outcomes

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Statistical Methods for Quality of Life Studies

Abstract

Treatment comparisons in clinical studies often involve several endpoints, particularly those related to quality of life of patients suffering from diseases like cancer and arthritis. We review traditional statistical methods for this problem and describe some new approaches. One approach is based on a new formulation of the null hypothesis that incorporates the essential univariate and multivariate features of the treatment effects. Another approach is based on assigning benefit scores to different regions of the toxicity-efficacy outcome space. A third approach involves patient thresholds for tolerating different treatments. Bootstrap methods are used to circumvent the analytic and computational complexities of the new approaches. We illustrate these approaches using data from patients with rheumatoid arthritis. In this setting, quality of life involves trade-offs between efficacy and toxicity of treatments.

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© 2002 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Tubert-Bitter, P., Bloch, D.A., Lai, T.L. (2002). Comparison of Treatments with Multiple Outcomes. In: Mesbah, M., Cole, B.F., Lee, ML.T. (eds) Statistical Methods for Quality of Life Studies. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-3625-0_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-3625-0_10

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-5207-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-3625-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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