K. Chen1, S. Zagarella2
Over the past few years, we have been presenting a series of talks on Evidenced Based Medicine at the Annual Scientific Meeting. This presentation will focus on basic concepts in survival analysis. The use of survival analysis (Kaplan-Meier survival curves etc.) is commonly and increasingly seen in dermatology journals, for example with assessing the survival benefits of new melanoma drugs or assessing “drug survival” between various biologic therapies for psoriasis. Concepts that will be discussed include: how and when survival analysis is used, how it differs from “traditional” statistical methods, terms such as “censoring”, and the underlying assumptions that underpin the validity of the model. It is hoped that by the end of the presentation, registrars and fellows will feel more confident in being able to critically appraise articles in the literature that use this method of analysis.