Statistical Methods in the Evaluation of Cardio-Respiratory Parameters in Young Childhood Cancer Survivors and Healthy Peers

This study concerns the problem of late complications of antineo-plastic therapy. Reduced parameters of the cardiorespiratory system in childhood may have a tremendous impact on health. In order to assess the selected parameters, to evaluate physical endurance, and compare the results with those obtained for healthy children, a test was carried out on a treadmill, until 80% of maximum pulse rate was reached. To compare the differences between the treatment group and the control group, three approaches were used. The first one was the classical statistical inference, the second consisted in forming a multidimensional normal model and also involved modelling of the correlation between variables. The unstructured type of the working correlation matrix was chosen to obtain the results and correct standard errors. In the last approach, logistic regression was used to model the relationship between binary outcome and covariates, and to differentiate between the groups of patients on the basis of their cardiovascular parameters.