Logistic regression models used in medical research are poorly presented

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Ralf Bender,
Ulrich Grouven

Statistician Department of Metabolic Diseases and Nutrition, Heinrich-Heine-University Dusseldorf, PO Box 10 10 07, D-40001 Dusseldorf, Germany
Statistician Department of Anaesthesiology, Research Group Informatics and Biometry, Hanover Medical School, Hospital Oststadt, Podbielskistrasse 380, D-30659 Hanover, Germany

EDITOR,—The application of multiple regression models in medical research has greatly increased during the past years.1 Nevertheless, assessing the accuracy of regression models in describing the data (goodness of fit) is almost unknown in medical research. Hence, medical journals may be publishing papers in which regression models are misused or results are misinterpreted.

We investigated the use of logistic regression in papers published in the BMJ, JAMA, the Lancet, and the New England Journal of Medicine during 1991-4. A Medline …