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Can Rodent Longevity Studies be Both Short and Powerful?

Can Rodent Longevity Studies be Both Short and Powerful?

Authors :
Robertson, Henry T.
Smith, Daniel L.
Pajewski, Nicholas M.
Weindruch, Richard H.
Garland, Theodore
Argyropoulos, George
Bokov, Alex
Allison, David B.
Source :
Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences & Medical Sciences. Mar2011, Vol. 66A Issue 3, p279-286. 8p. 4 Charts.
Publication Year :
2011

Abstract

Many rodent experiments have assessed effects of diets, drugs, genes, and other factors on life span. A challenge with such experiments is their long duration, typically over 3.5 years given rodent life spans, thus requiring significant time costs until answers are obtained. We collected longevity data from 15 rodent studies and artificially truncated them at 2 years to assess the extent to which one will obtain the same answer regarding mortality effects. When truncated, the point estimates were not significantly different in any study, implying that in most cases, truncated studies yield similar estimates. The median ratio of variances of coefficients for truncated to full-length studies was 3.4, implying that truncated studies with roughly 3.4 times as many rodents will often have equivalent or greater power. Cost calculations suggest that shorter studies will be more expensive but perhaps not so much to not be worth the reduced time. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
10795006
Volume :
66A
Issue :
3
Database :
Academic Search Index
Journal :
Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences & Medical Sciences
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
64855151
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/glq190