{"title":"Flexible variable selection in the presence of missing data.","authors":"Brian D Williamson, Ying Huang","doi":"10.1515/ijb-2023-0059","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In many applications, it is of interest to identify a parsimonious set of features, or panel, from multiple candidates that achieves a desired level of performance in predicting a response. This task is often complicated in practice by missing data arising from the sampling design or other random mechanisms. Most recent work on variable selection in missing data contexts relies in some part on a finite-dimensional statistical model, e.g., a generalized or penalized linear model. In cases where this model is misspecified, the selected variables may not all be truly scientifically relevant and can result in panels with suboptimal classification performance. To address this limitation, we propose a nonparametric variable selection algorithm combined with multiple imputation to develop flexible panels in the presence of missing-at-random data. We outline strategies based on the proposed algorithm that achieve control of commonly used error rates. Through simulations, we show that our proposal has good operating characteristics and results in panels with higher classification and variable selection performance compared to several existing penalized regression approaches in cases where a generalized linear model is misspecified. Finally, we use the proposed method to develop biomarker panels for separating pancreatic cysts with differing malignancy potential in a setting where complicated missingness in the biomarkers arose due to limited specimen volumes.</p>","PeriodicalId":50333,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Biostatistics","volume":" ","pages":"347-359"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-02-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11323294/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Journal of Biostatistics","FirstCategoryId":"100","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1515/ijb-2023-0059","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"数学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/11/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
In many applications, it is of interest to identify a parsimonious set of features, or panel, from multiple candidates that achieves a desired level of performance in predicting a response. This task is often complicated in practice by missing data arising from the sampling design or other random mechanisms. Most recent work on variable selection in missing data contexts relies in some part on a finite-dimensional statistical model, e.g., a generalized or penalized linear model. In cases where this model is misspecified, the selected variables may not all be truly scientifically relevant and can result in panels with suboptimal classification performance. To address this limitation, we propose a nonparametric variable selection algorithm combined with multiple imputation to develop flexible panels in the presence of missing-at-random data. We outline strategies based on the proposed algorithm that achieve control of commonly used error rates. Through simulations, we show that our proposal has good operating characteristics and results in panels with higher classification and variable selection performance compared to several existing penalized regression approaches in cases where a generalized linear model is misspecified. Finally, we use the proposed method to develop biomarker panels for separating pancreatic cysts with differing malignancy potential in a setting where complicated missingness in the biomarkers arose due to limited specimen volumes.
期刊介绍:
The International Journal of Biostatistics (IJB) seeks to publish new biostatistical models and methods, new statistical theory, as well as original applications of statistical methods, for important practical problems arising from the biological, medical, public health, and agricultural sciences with an emphasis on semiparametric methods. Given many alternatives to publish exist within biostatistics, IJB offers a place to publish for research in biostatistics focusing on modern methods, often based on machine-learning and other data-adaptive methodologies, as well as providing a unique reading experience that compels the author to be explicit about the statistical inference problem addressed by the paper. IJB is intended that the journal cover the entire range of biostatistics, from theoretical advances to relevant and sensible translations of a practical problem into a statistical framework. Electronic publication also allows for data and software code to be appended, and opens the door for reproducible research allowing readers to easily replicate analyses described in a paper. Both original research and review articles will be warmly received, as will articles applying sound statistical methods to practical problems.