Zhu, H;
Russell, RA;
Saunders, LJ;
Ceccon, S;
Garway-Heath, DF;
Crabb, DP;
(2014)
Detecting Changes in Retinal Function: Analysis with Non-Stationary Weibull Error Regression and Spatial Enhancement (ANSWERS).
PLoS One
, 9
(1)
, Article e85654. 10.1371/journal.pone.0085654.
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Abstract
Visual fields measured with standard automated perimetry are a benchmark test for determining retinal function in ocular pathologies such as glaucoma. Their monitoring over time is crucial in detecting change in disease course and, therefore, in prompting clinical intervention and defining endpoints in clinical trials of new therapies. However, conventional change detection methods do not take into account non-stationary measurement variability or spatial correlation present in these measures. An inferential statistical model, denoted 'Analysis with Non-Stationary Weibull Error Regression and Spatial enhancement' (ANSWERS), was proposed. In contrast to commonly used ordinary linear regression models, which assume normally distributed errors, ANSWERS incorporates non-stationary variability modelled as a mixture of Weibull distributions. Spatial correlation of measurements was also included into the model using a Bayesian framework. It was evaluated using a large dataset of visual field measurements acquired from electronic health records, and was compared with other widely used methods for detecting deterioration in retinal function. ANSWERS was able to detect deterioration significantly earlier than conventional methods, at matched false positive rates. Statistical sensitivity in detecting deterioration was also significantly better, especially in short time series. Furthermore, the spatial correlation utilised in ANSWERS was shown to improve the ability to detect deterioration, compared to equivalent models without spatial correlation, especially in short follow-up series. ANSWERS is a new efficient method for detecting changes in retinal function. It allows for better detection of change, more efficient endpoints and can potentially shorten the time in clinical trials for new therapies.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Detecting Changes in Retinal Function: Analysis with Non-Stationary Weibull Error Regression and Spatial Enhancement (ANSWERS) |
| Location: | United States |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0085654 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0085654 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2014 Zhu et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. PMCID: PMC3894992 |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Institute of Ophthalmology |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1420191 |
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