Linear mixed model ; repeated measures ; correlation ; PROC MIXED
Abstract
Repeated measurements on each variables of interest often arise in bioscience or medical research. We need to account for correlations among repeated measurements to assess the correlation between two variables in the presence of replication. This paper reviews methods to estimate a correlation coefficient between two variables in repeated measurements using the variance-covariance matrix of linear mixed effect models. We analyze acoustic radiation force impulse imaging (ARFI) data to assess correlation between three shear wave velocity (SWV) measurements in liver or spleen and spleen length by ultrasonography. We present how to obtain parameter estimates for the variance-covariance matrix and correlations in mixed effects models using PROC MIXED in SAS.