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Objective: The quest for epilepsy biomarkers is on the rise. Variables with statistically significant group-level differences are often misinterpreted as biomarkers with sufficient discriminative power. This study aimed to demonstrate the relationship between significant group-level differences and a variable's power to discriminate between individuals.
Methods: We simulated normal-distributed datasets from hypothetical populations with varying sample sizes (25-800), effect sizes (Cohen's d: .25-2.50), and variability (standard deviation: 10-35) to assess the impact of these parameters on significance and discriminative power. The simulation data were illustrated by assessing the discriminative power of a potential real-case biomarker-the EEG beta band power-to diagnose generalized epilepsy, using data from 66 children with generalized epilepsy and 385 controls. Additionally, we evaluated recently reported epilepsy biomarkers by comparing their effect sizes to our simulation-derived effect size criterion.
Results: Group size affects significance but not discriminative power. Discriminative power is much more related to variability and effect size. Our real data example supported these simulation results by demonstrating that group-level significance does not translate, one to one, into discriminative power. Although we found a significant difference in the beta band power between children with and without epilepsy, the discriminative power was poor due to a small effect size. A Cohen's d of at least 1.25 is required to reach good discriminative power in univariable prediction modeling. Slightly over 60% of the biomarkers in our literature search met this criterion.
Significance: Rather than statistical significance of group-level differences, effect size should be used as an indicator of a variable's biomarker potential. The minimal required effects size for individual biomarkers-a Cohen's d of 1.25-is large. This calls for multivariable approaches, in which combining multiple variables with smaller effect sizes could increase the overall effect size and discriminative power.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/epd2.20010 | DOI Listing |
PLoS One
September 2025
Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth University Hospitals NHS Trust, Portsmouth, United Kingdom.
Background: The Hospital Frailty Risk Score (HFRS) has been widely used to identify patients at high risk of poor outcomes and to predict poor outcomes for older people. Although poor health outcomes are associated more with frailty than age, HFRS has been validated only for older people. This study aimed to explore for the first time whether age influences the predictive power of Hospital Frailty Risk Score to predict a long length of stay.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFKhirurgiia (Mosk)
September 2025
Kuban State Medical University, Krasnodar, Russia.
Objective: To validate and assess clinical efficacy of a prognostic model for predicting severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) based on inflammatory markers (IL-6, ΔIL-22), thromboelastography parameters (K-time) and the BISAP score.
Material And Methods: A prospective observational cohort study enrolled 181 patients with acute pancreatitis. Serum IL-6 and IL-22 were measured in 24 and 48 hours after clinical manifestation, respectively.
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand
October 2025
Department of Internal Medicine, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
Introduction: Sepsis remains a leading cause of mortality, with mortality from septic shock exceeding 40%. Standardized resuscitation (30 mL/kg) may cause adverse outcomes, including fluid overload or prolonged hypotension, emphasizing the need for individualized strategies. Sepsis-induced shock arises from varying degrees of vasodilation and hypovolemia, yet patients often present with similar clinical signs in the emergency department (ED).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMov Disord
September 2025
Department of Medical Sciences and Public Health, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy.
Background: The hallmark feature of tremor is rhythmicity, which can be quantified using power spectral density (PSD) analysis. However, tremor exhibits considerable variability, ranging from highly regular to more irregular patterns. Similarly, rhythmicity in myoclonus varies, but it typically manifests as arrhythmic jerks.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInfect Drug Resist
September 2025
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Taizhou Hospital of Zhejiang Province Affiliated to Wenzhou Medical University, Linhai, 317000, People's Republic of China.
Purpose: Sepsis has high mortality and progresses rapidly, requiring early diagnosis; traditional scoring and lab parameters are limited in non-ICU settings, highlighting the need for biomarker integration and continuous monitoring to enhance diagnostic accuracy.
Patients And Methods: A retrospective analysis of 1,098 patients at Taizhou Hospital of Zhejiang Province identified sepsis and non-sepsis groups per Sepsis 3.0 criteria, Logistic regression analyses were used to identify the risk factors.