ArticleBMC medical research methodology2023
Better performance for right-skewed data using an alternative gamma model.
Article in BMC medical research methodology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed.
- Association between GLIM-defined malnutrition and in-hospital costs in adults with sepsis: A sub analysis of a prospective cohort study.JPEN. Journal of parenteral and enteral nutrition · 2026Article
- Robust power and sample size calculations in quasi-likelihood models: methods and practice.BMC medical research methodology · 2026Article
- Economic burden of depressive disorders and HIV for people living with HIV in Uganda.Health policy and planning · 2026Article
- Exposure to Conflict-Related News and Psychological Distress Among Nursing Students: The Mediating Role of Sleep Difficulties and Study Disruption.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Enhancing patient admission efficiency through a hybrid cloud framework for medical record sharing.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Antibiotic consumption and medication cost in diabetic patients: Insights from Iran health insurance organization (IHIO) claims data.PloS one · 2026Article
- Cost Analysis of Postoperative Medications in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Northeast India.Cureus · 2025Article
- Comparative models on low multiplier DRG classification for advanced lung cancer.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Observational
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe Maximum Likelihood Estimator (MLE) for parameters of the gamma distribution is commonly used to estimate models of right-skewed variables such as costs, hospital length of stay, and appointment wait times in Economics and Healthcare research. The common specification for this estimator assumes the variance is proportional to the square of the mean, which underlies estimation and specification tests. We present a specification in which the variance is directly proportional to the mean.
methodsWe used simulation experiments to investigate finite sample results, and we used United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare cost data as an empirical example comparing the fit and predictive ability of the models.
resultsSimulation showed the MLE based on a correctly specified alternative has less parameter bias, lower standard errors, and less skewness in distribution than a misspecified standard model. The application to VA healthcare cost data showed the alternative specification can have better R square, smaller root mean squared error, and smaller mean residuals within deciles of predicted values.
conclusionsThe alternative gamma specification can be a useful alternative to the standard specification for estimating models of right-skewed continuous variables.
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Registered trials
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.