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Estimating reference ranges from stratified two‐stage samples
Author(s) -
Thompson Mary Lou,
Edland Steven D.,
Gibbons Laura E.,
McCurry Susan M.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of the royal statistical society: series a (statistics in society)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.103
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1467-985X
pISSN - 0964-1998
DOI - 10.1111/1467-985x.00216
Subject(s) - statistics , quantile , mathematics , stratum , stratified sampling , estimation , sample size determination , population , variance (accounting) , sampling (signal processing) , selection (genetic algorithm) , sampling design , computer science , demography , paleontology , business , management , accounting , filter (signal processing) , artificial intelligence , sociology , economics , computer vision , biology
We present methodology for estimating age‐specific reference ranges by using data from two‐stage samples. On the basis of the information obtained in the first stage, the initial sample is stratified and random subsamples are drawn from each stratum, where the selection probabilities in this second‐stage sampling may be different across strata in the population. The variable for which the reference ranges are to be established is measured at the second phase. The approach involves maximum likelihood estimation of the parameters of the age‐specific distributions and separate estimation of the population stratum probabilities. These are combined to yield estimates of the quantiles of interest. The issue of variance estimation for the estimated quantiles is also addressed. The methodology is applied to the estimation of reference ranges for a cognitive test score in a study of non‐demented older Japanese‐Americans.