Statistical modeling to improve the detection of glaucoma progression

..........................................................................................................73 Introduction .....................................................................................................74 Methods ..........................................................................................................78 Participants and Data Collection .............................................................78 Participant Characteristics ....................................................................79 Structural Measures ..............................................................................79 Ocular Measures ...................................................................................80 Other Health Information .....................................................................81 Statistical Methods ..................................................................................82 Pointwise Regression at the Location-level .........................................82 Definition of Best Fitting Model at the Eye-level ................................83 Testing for Group Differences ..............................................................83 Multivariable Analysis .........................................................................84 Computing Methods ................................................................................85 Results.............................................................................................................85 Comparison of Tobit and Normal Models ...............................................88 Comparison of Tobit and Exponential Models .......................................89 Comparison of Normal and Exponential Models ....................................91 Comparison of All Models ......................................................................91 Multivariable Analysis ............................................................................91 Discussion .......................................................................................................93 Conclusion ......................................................................................................96 VI. CONCLUSION...............................................................................................98 Integration of Project Components .................................................................98 Strengths and Limitations .............................................................................100 Challenges in Epidemiologic Studies of Glaucoma .....................................101 Case Definition ......................................................................................101 Case Ascertainment ...............................................................................102 Determination of Disease Progression ..................................................103 Control Selection ...................................................................................103 Extended Follow-up ..............................................................................104 Future Research ............................................................................................104 APPENDIX ......................................................................................................................106 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................112