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Pediatric Healthcare & Pediatric Infections 2017
September 20-22, 2017 | Toronto, Canada
alliedacademies
Notes:
10TH AMERICAN PEDIATRICS HEALTHCARE &
PEDIATRIC INFECTIOUS DISEASES CONGRESS
Studying symptoms in pediatric health care is important.
The terminology of “symptom cluster” in literature has
different meanings. Symptom cluster may refer to a group of
symptoms that are associatedwith simultaneous occurrence.
Analysis of this kind of symptom cluster are variable-centered
analytical approach. The present study focuses on “person-
centered” symptom clusters that represent distinctive sub-
populations/groups in the target population. Latent class
analysis (LCA) is one of the person-centered analytical
approaches that can be applied to identify potential latent
classes/groups (subpopulations) that are a priori unknown
in the population. Patients are similar within class, but differ
in cross classes with respect to a set of symptom measures.
When symptom measures are continuous (e.g., scale scores
of depression), LCA becomes latent profile analysis (LPA).
Applications of LCA and LPA to longitudinal data lead to latent
transition analysis (LTA), in which latent classes or profiles
can be identified simultaneously for each specific time
point, measurement invariance over time can be tested, and
transitions of symptom cluster/profile status over time can
be estimated, and factors that affect the transitions can be
examined. This studyappliedLPAandLTAto identifydistinctive
latent profiles in children undergoing chemotherapy based
on four PROMIS symptoms measures (depression, anxiety,
pain, and fatigue). Our results show that two latent profiles
(‘Less Severe Symptoms, ‘Severe Symptoms) were identified
throughout a chemotherapy (T1: start of the chemotherapy
cycle; T2: mid-way through the cycle; and T3: after blood cell
count recovery). The prevalence of severe symptom profile
remained relatively unchanged from T1 to T2 but significantly
declined at T3. A baseline single-item legacy fatigue score
significantly predicted the child’s profile membership and its
transitions over time.
Speaker Biography
Jichuan Wang has completed his PhD from Cornell University and Post-doctoral
studies from the Population Studies Center, University of Michigan. He is a Senior
Biostatistician at Children’s Research Institute, CNHS. He has published three statistical
books and authored/coauthored more than 100 peer-reviewed journal articles. He has
been serving as an Editorial Board Member for five academic journals.
e:
Jichuan Wang
Children’s National Health System, USA
Application of latent class analysis and latent transition analysis to
pediatric symptom studies