Linear Models and Regression

Summary

Linear regression is one of the most important tools in a modelers toolbox, yet surprisingly its foundations and assumptions are often glossed over at the graduate level. Few books published on pharmacokinetics cover the principles of linear regression modeling. Most books start at nonlinear modeling and proceed from there. But, a thorough understanding of linear modeling is needed before one can understand nonlinear models. In this chapter, the basics of linear regression have been presented, although not every topic in linear regression has been presented—the topic is too vast to do that in one chapter of a book. What has been presented are the essentials relevant to pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic modeling. Later chapters will expand on these concepts and present new ones with an eye towards developing a unified exposition of pharmacostatistical modeling.