In response to numerous enquiries and requests for assistance, the analytical team of the Global Lung Function Initative have produced a document to help guide those who may wish to use a similar statistical approach when analysing their own data. Many people are mystified how to use GAMLSS, the statistical package that we applied to derive prediction equations for spirometry. Even some statisticians have expressed difficulty in coming to grips with the software. This is not surprising, as the learning curve is rather steep and there are certain instances in which one has to make a choice between many possibilities, the scope of which is not always immediately clear.
The analytical team wishes to facilitate the use of GAMLSS for analysing respiratory data, so that any researcher can familiarise him/herself with this technique. To that end we have produced the document “GAMLSS in action”.
Use of GAMLSS is not for the uninitiated. Therefore we suggest that you provide your statistician with a copy of the document in case GAMLSS appears to be an appropriate statistical technique for analysing your data. In order to use the examples, one needs access to a data file. This data file and the pdf are available from here: