Comparative study of cardiovascular markers data by various techniques of multivariate analysis

Indication of cardiovascular risk is based on laboratory analysis of cardiovascular markers in blood. Assessment of diagnostic performance of traditionally used as well as new cardiovascular markers is the main goal of this paper. Performance of studied laboratory tests was evaluated by using the area below the corresponding receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Application of an objective procedure for the determination of critical values of laboratory tests was based on maximum of efficiency. It was demonstrated that the patient's diagnosis can be verified or predicted not only by using the results of a chosen individual laboratory test but also by a multivariate statistical approach, which jointly utilizes all performed tests in the form of their optimal linear combination. An effective combination of original variables (laboratory tests) is provided either by principal component or discriminant function or logit-in case of logistic regression. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.