Effects of socioeconomic status on cancer patient survival: counterfactual event-based mediation analysis.

Purpose: This study investigated the direct and indirect effects of socioeconomic status (SES) on the survival time of cancer patients by using cancer stage to create a pathway from SES to health outcomes and facilitate a mechanistic inference.

Methods: Both a traditional mediation analysis and a counterfactual event-based mediation analysis were applied to SEER (The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results) data from the National Cancer Institute of the United States. A Cox proportional hazards model for survival analysis was performed in the mediation analysis.

Effects of meteorological factors on blood donation.

Background And Objectives: Blood donation can be affected by various factors including time, weather, and other events (such as disasters). To better understand how meteorological factors affect blood donation, this study builds a novel predictive model for blood supply in North Taiwan to facilitate better blood supply chain and inventory management.

Materials And Methods: This study uses a two-step prediction model that combines generalized additive models (GAM) and time series models to investigate the meteorological and the day-of-the-week effects on blood donation.