Title: Statistical methods for analysis of radiation effects with tumor and dose location-specific information with application to the WECARE study of asynchronous contralateral breast cancer.

Authors: Langholz, Bryan; Thomas, Duncan C; Stovall, Marilyn; Smith, Susan A; Boice Jr, John D; Shore, Roy E; Bernstein, Leslie; Lynch, Charles F; Zhang, Xinbo; Bernstein, Jonine L

Published In Biometrics, (2009 Jun)

Abstract: Methods for the analysis of individually matched case-control studies with location-specific radiation dose and tumor location information are described. These include likelihood methods for analyses that just use cases with precise location of tumor information and methods that also include cases with imprecise tumor location information. The theory establishes that each of these likelihood based methods estimates the same radiation rate ratio parameters, within the context of the appropriate model for location and subject level covariate effects. The underlying assumptions are characterized and the potential strengths and limitations of each method are described. The methods are illustrated and compared using the WECARE study of radiation and asynchronous contralateral breast cancer.

PubMed ID: 18647297

MeSH Terms: Algorithms; Biometry/methods; Body Burden*; Breast Neoplasms/epidemiology*; Breast Neoplasms/radiotherapy*; Computer Simulation; Data Interpretation, Statistical*; Female; Humans; Incidence; Models, Statistical; Radiation Injuries/epidemiology*; Radiotherapy, Conformal/statistics & numerical data*; Reproducibility of Results; Risk Assessment/methods*; Risk Factors; Sensitivity and Specificity