Comparing baseline scores of functioning on the Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form 36 (MOS SF-36), there was a significant improvement (F = 2.11, P <.05) in general health subscale scores at 1 month after surgery.
Thus, for each outcome variable, the score at initial presentation was entered in the first step to control for the effect of baseline function on outcome, and the score at 1 year was entered as the second step.
Functional decline was more likely to occur when proxy-reports were used, and the effects of baseline function on decline were reduced when proxy-reports were used.
Because the baseline pulmonary function was normal and narrowly distributed for individuals with recent MI, the observed impact of baseline pulmonary function on the PM2.5 SDNN response largely reflects variation in baseline pulmonary function among individuals with COPD.
We estimated the baseline survivor function on the basis of zero values of centred continuous variables, with all binary predictor values set to zero.
The effect of baseline renal function on the diagnostic performance of urinary NGAL was also evaluated recently by McIlroy and colleagues in a prospective observational study in 426 adults undergoing major cardiac surgery [ 5].
The influence of baseline kidney function on the safety and efficacy of once daily risedronate was evaluated in a retrospective analysis of data from 9 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials.
The exclusion criteria were: (1) emergency or urgent surgery; (2) evidence of tumor invasion to adjacent organs or distant metastasis; (3) previous major abdominal or pelvic surgery; (4) abnormal preoperative baseline genitourinary function on the basis of validated questionnaire-based interview.
As a consequence, the extent of renal dysfunction following injury is rather dependent on the initial baseline function depicted as the percentage of baseline values normalized to 100% on days 8 and 14 (Table 1).
