3D Regression Heat Map Analysis of Population Study Data

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.