Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32471357›Full record

ArticleBMC medical research methodology2020

Summarizing the extent of visit irregularity in longitudinal data.

Armend Lokku, Lily S Lim, Catherine S Birken, Eleanor M Pullenayegum, TARGet Kids! Collaboration

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC medical research methodology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Armend LokkuChild Health Evaluative Sciences, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Armend.Lokku@mail.utoronto.ca.
Lily S LimDepartment of Pediatrics, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Catherine S BirkenDivision of Pediatric Medicine and the Pediatric Outcomes Research Team (PORT), Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Eleanor M PullenayegumChild Health Evaluative Sciences, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
TARGet Kids! Collaboration

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundObservational longitudinal data often feature irregular, informative visit times. We propose descriptive measures to quantify the extent of irregularity to select an appropriate analytic outcome approach.

methodsWe divided the study period into bins and calculated the mean proportions of individuals with 0, 1, and > 1 visits per bin. Perfect repeated measures features everyone with 1 visit per bin. Missingness leads to individuals with 0 visits per bin while irregularity leads to individuals with > 1 visit per bin. We applied these methods to: 1) the TARGet Kids! study, which invites participation at ages 2, 4, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 24 months, and 2) the childhood-onset Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (cSLE) study which recommended at least 1 visit every 6 months.

resultsThe mean proportions of 0 and > 1 visits per bin were above 0.67 and below 0.03 respectively in the TARGet Kids! study, suggesting repeated measures with missingness. For the cSLE study, bin widths of 6 months yielded mean proportions of 1 and > 1 visits per bin of 0.39, suggesting irregular visits.

conclusionsOur methods describe the extent of irregularity and help distinguish between protocol-driven visits and irregular visits. This is an important step in choosing an analytic strategy for the outcome.

Indexed as

Lupus Erythematosus, SystemicAge of OnsetChildHumansInfantIrregular visitsLongitudinal dataMissing data mechanismVisit intensityVisit process

Identifiers

PMID32471357
PMCPMC7260811

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.