SPECIAL SEMINAR
 

DR LISA YELLAND

NHMRC POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH RELLOW

UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE

 TUESDAY, 12^TH AUGUST, 2014

 12.00 – 13.00 : SEMINAR ROOM (OS6)

2^nd FLOOR, OAKFIELD HOUSE

"Design and Analysis Issues in Perinatal Trials with Multiple Births"

 

Abstract:

Perinatal trials often include infants from both single and multiple births, resulting in a mixture of independent and clustered data. Despite the well known statistical implications of ignoring clustering in the sample size calculations and analysis, it is rarely taken into account in perinatal trials. This is not surprising, since methods for calculating sample size based on a mixture of independent and clustered data have received limited attention. Further, conflicting recommendations have been made regarding if and how clustering due to multiple births should be taken into account in the analysis, particularly when the multiple birth rate is low. The potential for informative cluster size to occur in perinatal trials, where the outcome is related to the size of the cluster, has also recently been recognised and this has implications for the choice of analysis method. In this seminar, I will present the results of a systematic review on methods used to account for multiple births in perinatal trials. I will then discuss the different sample size and analysis approaches relevant to perinatal trials including infants from both single and multiple births, and explore some of the factors that influence whether clustering due to multiple births should be taken into account.

Biography:

Dr Lisa Yelland is an NHMRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Women's & Children's Health Research Institute, and in the School of Population Health at The University of Adelaide, Australia. She is a biostatistician specializing in maternal and infant health, and a chief investigator on three large perinatal trials. Her research broadly aims to improve the statistical quality of perinatal trials and she is currently investigating methods for designing and analysing such trials when clustering is present due to the inclusion of multiple births.

 

ALL WELCOME