ArticleBMC medical research methodology2010
Exploratory factor analysis of self-reported symptoms in a large, population-based military cohort.
Article in BMC medical research methodology, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- Symptom profiles following combat injury and long-term quality of life: a latent class analysis.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2021Article
- Underreporting of Symptomatic Adverse Events in Phase I Clinical Trials.Journal of the National Cancer Institute · 2021Observational
- Pre-deployment Year Mental Health Diagnoses and Treatment in Deployed Army Women.Administration and policy in mental health · 2017Article
- Exploratory Factor Analysis for Validating Traditional Chinese Syndrome Patterns of Chronic Atrophic Gastritis.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2016Article
- Quantification of the whole-body burden of radiographic osteoarthritis using factor analysis.Arthritis research & therapy · 2011Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundUS military engagements have consistently raised concern over the array of health outcomes experienced by service members postdeployment. Exploratory factor analysis has been used in studies of 1991 Gulf War-related illnesses, and may increase understanding of symptoms and health outcomes associated with current military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The objective of this study was to use exploratory factor analysis to describe the correlations among numerous physical and psychological symptoms in terms of a smaller number of unobserved variables or factors.
methodsThe Millennium Cohort Study collects extensive self-reported health data from a large, population-based military cohort, providing a unique opportunity to investigate the interrelationships of numerous physical and psychological symptoms among US military personnel. This study used data from the Millennium Cohort Study, a large, population-based military cohort. Exploratory factor analysis was used to examine the covariance structure of symptoms reported by approximately 50,000 cohort members during 2004-2006. Analyses incorporated 89 symptoms, including responses to several validated instruments embedded in the questionnaire. Techniques accommodated the categorical and sometimes incomplete nature of the survey data.
resultsA 14-factor model accounted for 60 percent of the total variance in symptoms data and included factors related to several physical, psychological, and behavioral constructs. A notable finding was that many factors appeared to load in accordance with symptom co-location within the survey instrument, highlighting the difficulty in disassociating the effects of question content, location, and response format on factor structure.
conclusionsThis study demonstrates the potential strengths and weaknesses of exploratory factor analysis to heighten understanding of the complex associations among symptoms. Further research is needed to investigate the relationship between factor analytic results and survey structure, as well as to assess the relationship between factor scores and key exposure variables.
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Registered trials
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