Random forests for the analysis of matched case-control studies.

Journal: BMC bioinformatics
Published Date:

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Conditional logistic regression trees have been proposed as a flexible alternative to the standard method of conditional logistic regression for the analysis of matched case-control studies. While they allow to avoid the strict assumption of linearity and automatically incorporate interactions, conditional logistic regression trees may suffer from a relatively high variability. Further machine learning methods for the analysis of matched case-control studies are missing because conventional machine learning methods cannot handle the matched structure of the data.

Authors

  • Gunther Schauberger
    Chair of Epidemiology, Department of Sport and Health Sciences, Technical University of Munich (TUM), Munich, Germany.
  • Stefanie J Klug
    Chair of Epidemiology, Department of Sport and Health Sciences, Technical University of Munich (TUM), Munich, Germany.
  • Moritz Berger
    Institute of Biomedical Statistics, Computer Science and Epidemiology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.