Apparatus for determining association variables

• US 20060270918A1
• Filed: 07/31/2006
• Published: 11/30/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/10/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Trigeminal Solutions, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Trigeminal Solutions, Inc.
• Inventors: Newman, Lawrence, Lanckriet, Gert, Stupp, Steven Elliot
• Granted Patent: US 8,062,219 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/300
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0002 Remote monitoring of patients using telemetry, e.g. transmission of vital signals via a communication network A61B5/07 takes precedence; transmission systems for measured values G08C; transmission H04B; transmission of digital information H04L; wireless communication networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7267 involving training the classification device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/18 for evaluating statistical data , e.g. average values, frequency distributions, probability functions, regression analysis forecasting specially adapted for a specific administrative, business or logistic context G06Q10/04
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/20 for electronic clinical trials or questionnaires
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/60 relating to nutrition control, e.g. diets
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/30 for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/50 for simulation or modelling of medical disorders
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/70 for mining of medical data, e.g. analysing previous cases of other patients
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 128/92 Computer assisted medical diagnostics

Abstract

An apparatus, and related method, for determining one or more association variables is described. The apparatus includes at least one processor, at least one memory, and at least one program module stored in the memory configured to be executed by the processor. The program module includes instructions for selecting a subset of temporal onsets in a set of temporal onsets, instructions for determining a statistical relationship between the subset of temporal onsets and a pattern of occurrence of a variable, and instructions for identifying the variable as a migraine variable in accordance with the statistical relationship. The subset of temporal onsets includes one or more onsets corresponding to one or more migraines experienced by at least one individual, and the set of temporal onsets includes the subset of temporal onsets and one or more temporal onsets corresponding to one or more additional headaches experienced by at least the one individual.

Claims

1. An apparatus for determining one or more migraine variables associated with migraines, comprising:

at least one processor;

at least one memory; and

at least one program module, the program module stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the processor, the program module including;

instructions for selecting a subset of temporal onsets in a set of temporal onsets, wherein the subset of temporal onsets includes one or more onsets corresponding to one or more migraines experienced by at least one individual, and wherein the set of temporal onsets includes the subset of temporal onsets and one or more temporal onsets corresponding to one or more additional headaches experienced by at least the one individual;

instructions for determining a statistical relationship between the subset of temporal onsets and a pattern of occurrence of a variable; and

instructions for identifying the variable as a migraine variable in accordance with the statistical relationship.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the determining includes contributions from presence and absence information in the pattern of occurrence of the variable.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more additional headaches are selected from a group consisting of one or more rebound migraines, one or more recurrence migraines and one or more tension headaches.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising instructions for excluding at least one of the temporal onsets in the set of temporal onsets from the subset of temporal onsets due to missing data in the pattern of occurrence of the variable.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the pattern of occurrence of the variable is during a set of time intervals, and wherein a respective time interval in the set of time intervals precedes a corresponding respective temporal onset in the subset of temporal onsets.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein time intervals in the set of time intervals are offset in time from temporal onsets in the subset of temporal onsets.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, the program module further including instructions for receiving information including the set of temporal onsets and the pattern of occurrence of the variable.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, the program module further including instructions for providing recommendations to one or more individuals in accordance with the migraine variable.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the determining uses a non-parametric statistical analysis technique selected from a group consisting of a chi-square analysis technique, a log-likelihood ratio analysis technique and a Fisher'"'"'s exact probability analysis technique.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the determining uses a supervised learning technique selected from a group consisting of a support vector machines (SVM) analysis technique and a classification and regression tree (CART) analysis technique.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the pattern of occurrence of the variable comprises categorical data.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, the program module further including instructions for determining statistical relationships for a plurality of variables.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, the program module further including instructions for determining a first ranking of the plurality of variables in accordance with the statistical relationships.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, the program module further including instructions for subtracting a second ranking from the first ranking, wherein the second ranking corresponds to a background signal.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a respective entry in a pattern of occurrence of the variable is considered present if the respective entry approximately exceeds a threshold.

16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the migraine variable is a migraine trigger that at least in part induces a migraine in at least the one individual if at least the one individual is exposed to the migraine trigger.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, the program module further including instructions for associating at least the one individual with one or more groups of migraine triggers in accordance with the identified migraine trigger.

18. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the pattern of occurrence of the variable includes one or more entries corresponding to at least a time interval after at least a respective temporal onset in the subset of temporal onsets, a respective migraine corresponding to at least the respective temporal onset having a duration including at least the time interval, and wherein the one or more entries are excluded when the statistical relationship is determined.

19. A method for determining one or more migraine variables associated with migraines, comprising:

determining a subset of temporal onsets in a set of temporal onsets, wherein the subset of temporal onsets includes one or more onsets corresponding to one or more migraines experienced by at least one individual, and wherein the set of temporal onsets includes the subset of temporal onsets and one or more temporal onsets corresponding to one or more additional headaches experienced by at least the one individual;

determining a statistical relationship between the subset of temporal onsets and a pattern of occurrence of a variable; and

identifying the variable as a migraine variable in accordance with the statistical relationship.

20. A computer-program product for use in conjunction with a computer system, the computer-program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium and a computer-program mechanism embedded therein for determining one or more migraine variables associated with migraines, the computer-program mechanism including:

instructions for determining a subset of temporal onsets in a set of temporal onsets, wherein the subset of temporal onsets includes one or more onsets corresponding to one or more migraines experienced by at least one individual, and wherein the set of temporal onsets includes the subset of temporal onsets and one or more temporal onsets corresponding to one or more additional headaches experienced by at least the one individual;

instructions for determining a statistical relationship between the subset of temporal onsets and a pattern of occurrence of a variable; and

instructions for identifying the variable as a migraine variable in accordance with the statistical relationship.

21. A method for determining one or more migraine variables associated with migraines, comprising:

transmitting a first data stream including a set of temporal onsets corresponding to one or more events and a pattern of occurrence of a variable; and

receiving a second data stream including information that identifies the variable as a migraine variable,

wherein the information is determined in accordance with a statistical relationship between a subset of temporal onsets in the set of temporal onsets and a pattern of occurrence of the variable, wherein the subset of temporal onsets includes one or more onsets corresponding to one or more migraines experienced by at least one individual, and wherein the set of temporal onsets includes the subset of temporal onsets and one or more temporal onsets corresponding to one or more additional headaches experienced by at least the one individual.

22. An apparatus for determining one or more migraine variables associated with migraines, comprising:

means for computing;

means for storing; and

at least one program module mechanism, the program module mechanism stored in at least the means for storing and configured to be executed by at least the means for computing, at least the program module mechanism including;

instructions for determining a subset of temporal onsets in a set of temporal onsets, wherein the subset of temporal onsets includes one or more onsets corresponding to one or more migraines experienced by at least one individual, and wherein the set of temporal onsets includes the subset of temporal onsets and one or more temporal onsets corresponding to one or more additional headaches experienced by at least the one individual;

instructions for determining a statistical relationship between the subset of temporal onsets and a pattern of occurrence of a variable; and

instructions for identifying the variable as a migraine variable in accordance with the statistical relationship.