Reliability of pharmacodynamic analysis by logistic regression: a computer simulation study

Many pharmacologic studies record data as binary yes-or-no variables, and analysis is performed using logistic regression. This study investigates the accuracy of estimation of the drug concentration associated with a 50% probability of drug effect (C50) and the term describing the steepness of the concentration-effect relation (gamma).

The authors developed a technique for simulating pharmacodynamic studies with binary yes-or-no responses. Simulations were conducted assuming either that each data point was derived from the same patient or that data were pooled from multiple patients in a population with log-normal distributions of C50 and gamma. Coefficients of variation were calculated. The authors also determined the percentage of simulations in which the 95% confidence intervals contained the true parameter value.

The coefficient of variation of parameter estimates decreased with increasing n and gamma. The 95% confidence intervals for C50 estimation contained the true parameter value in more than 90% of the simulations. However, the 95% confidence intervals of gamma did not contain the true value in a substantial number of simulations of data from multiple patients.

The coefficient of variation of parameter estimates may be as large as 40-50% for small studies (n < or = 20). The 95% confidence intervals of C50 almost always contain the true value, underscoring the need for always reporting confidence intervals. However, when data from multiple patients is naively pooled, the estimates of gamma may be biased, and the 95% confidence intervals may not contain the true value.