Multivariate data reduction by principal components, with application to neurological scoring instruments

Principal components analysis is widely used as a practical tool for the analysis of multivariate data. The aim of this analysis is to reduce the dimensionality of a multivariate data set to the smallest number of meaningful and independent dimensions. The analysis can also provide interpretable linear functions of the original measured variables that may serve as valuable indices of variation. A brief introduction to principal components analysis is given herein, followed by an examination of a particular set of multivariate data accruing from a study of acute brain injuries in a pediatric population, in which severity of brain injury had been assessed with the Glasgow Coma Scale (CGS). Principal components analysis reveals that the GCS sum score is a particularly inefficient summarizer of information in this cohort. The determination of an objective weighting of measured variables, as provided through principal components analysis, is essential in the construction of meaningful neurological scoring instruments.