title: 3D Regression Heat Map Analysis of Population Study Data.
abstract: Epidemiological studies comprise heterogeneous data about a subject group to define disease-specific risk factors. These data contain information (features) about a subject's lifestyle, medical status as well as medical image data. Statistical regression analysis is used to evaluate these features and to identify feature combinations indicating a disease (the target feature). We propose an analysis approach of epidemiological data sets by incorporating all features in an exhaustive regression-based analysis. This approach combines all independent features w.r.t. a target feature. It provides a visualization that reveals insights into the data by highlighting relationships. The 3D Regression Heat Map, a novel 3D visual encoding, acts as an overview of the whole data set. It shows all combinations of two to three independent features with a specific target disease. Slicing through the 3D Regression Heat Map allows for the detailed analysis of the underlying relationships. Expert knowledge about disease-specific hypotheses can be included into the analysis by adjusting the regression model formulas. Furthermore, the influences of features can be assessed using a difference view comparing different calculation results. We applied our 3D Regression Heat Map method to a hepatic steatosis data set to reproduce results from a data mining-driven analysis. A qualitative analysis was conducted on a breast density data set. We were able to derive new hypotheses about relations between breast density and breast lesions with breast cancer. With the 3D Regression Heat Map, we present a visual overview of epidemiological data that allows for the first time an interactive regression-based analysis of large feature sets with respect to a disease.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Klemm
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lawonn
authors.forename: Sylvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Glaßer
authors.forename: Uli
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Niemann
authors.forename: Katrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hegenscheid
authors.forename: Henry
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Völzke
authors.forename: Bernhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Preim
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods*; D003196:Computer Graphics; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005234:Fatty Liver; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged