An application of multivariate ranks to assess effects from combining factors: Metal exposures and semen analysis outcomes

R. V. Ramamoorthi, M. G. Rossano, N. Paneth, J. C. Gardiner, M. P. Diamond, E. Puscheck, D. C. Daly, R. C. Potter, J. J. Wirth

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

In studies of environmental effects on human health outcomes, it is often difficult to assess the effects of a group of exposure variables when the individual exposures do not appear to have statistically significant effects. To address this situation, we propose a method of U-scores applied to subsets of multivariate data. We illustrate the usefulness of this approach by applying it to data collected as part of a study on the effects of metal exposure on human semen parameters. In this analysis, profiles (pairs) of metals containing copper and/or manganese were negatively correlated with total motile sperm and profiles containing copper were negatively correlated with sperm morphology; profiles containing selenium and chromium were positively correlated with total motile sperm.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)3503-3514
Number of pages12
JournalStatistics in Medicine
Volume27
Issue number18
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 15 2008
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Environmental health
  • Metals
  • Semen parameters
  • Sperm
  • U-scores

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Epidemiology
  • Statistics and Probability

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