title: A review of two journals found that articles using multivariable logistic regression frequently did not report commonly recommended assumptions.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine if commonly recommended assumptions for multivariable logistic regression are addressed in two major epidemiological journals.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ninety-nine articles from the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology and the American Journal of Epidemiology were surveyed for 10 criteria: six dealing with computation and four with reporting multivariable logistic regression results.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three of the 10 criteria were addressed in 50% or more of the articles. Statistical significance testing or confidence intervals were reported in all articles. Methods for selecting independent variables were described in 82%, and specific procedures used to generate the models were discussed in 65%. Fewer than 50% of the articles indicated if interactions were tested or met the recommended events per independent variable ratio of 10:1. Fewer than 20% of the articles described conformity to a linear gradient, examined collinearity, reported information on validation procedures, goodness-of-fit, discrimination statistics, or provided complete information on variable coding. There was no significant difference (P>.05) in the proportion of articles meeting the criteria across the two journals.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Articles reviewed frequently did not report commonly recommended assumptions for using multivariable logistic regression.
authors.affiliation: Division of Rehabilitation Sciences and Sealy Center on Aging, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX 77555-1137, USA. kottenba@utmb.edu
authors.forename: Kenneth J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Ottenbacher
authors.forename: Heather R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Ottenbacher
authors.forename: Leigh
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tooth
authors.forename: Glenn V
authors.initials: GV
authors.lastname: Ostir
mesh_terms: D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010506:Periodicals as Topic; D015203:Reproducibility of Results