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Methods for constructing normalised reference scores: an application for assessing child development

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posted on 2022-12-09, 15:18 authored by Vasiliki Bountziouka, Samantha Johnson, Bradley Manktelow

The use of the lambda-mu-sigma (LMS) method for estimating centiles and producing reference ranges has received much interest in clinical practice, especially for assessing growth in childhood. However, this method may not be directly applicable where measures are based on a score calculated from question response categories that is bounded within finite intervals, for example, in psychometrics. In such cases, the main assumption of normality of the conditional distribution of the transformed response measurement is violated due to the presence of ceiling (and floor) effects, leading to biased fitted centiles when derived using the common LMS method. This paper describes the methodology for constructing reference intervals when the response variable is bounded and explores different distribution families for the centile estimation, using a score derived from a parent-completed assessment of cognitive and language development in 24 month-old children. Results indicated that the z-scores, and thus the extracted centiles, improved when kurtosis was also modeled and that the ceiling effect was addressed with the use of the inflated binomial distribution. Therefore, the selection of the appropriate distribution when constructing centile curves is crucial. 

Funding

Grant GN2580 from the Action Medical Research Project

History

Citation

asiliki Bountziouka, Samantha Johnson & Bradley N. Manktelow (2022) Methods for Constructing Normalised Reference Scores: An Application for Assessing Child Development at 24 Months of Age, Multivariate Behavioral Research, DOI: 10.1080/00273171.2022.2142189

Author affiliation

Department of Health Sciences; Department of Cardiovascular Sciences

Version

  • VoR (Version of Record)

Published in

Multivariate Behavioral Research

Publisher

Taylor & Francis (Routledge)

issn

0027-3171

Copyright date

2022

Available date

2022-12-09

Language

en

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