Applied Logistic Regression, 3rd Edition

Chapter 1: Introduction to the Logistic Regression Model

1.1 Introduction

Regression methods have become an integral component of any data analysis concerned with describing the relationship between a response variable and one or more explanatory variables. Quite often the outcome variable is discrete, taking on two or more possible values. The logistic regression model is the most frequently used regression model for the analysis of these data.

Before beginning a thorough study of the logistic regression model it is important to understand that the goal of an analysis using this model is the same as that of any other regression model used in statistics, that is, to find the best fitting and most parsimonious, clinically interpretable model to describe the relationship between an outcome (dependent or response) variable and a set of independent (predictor or explanatory) variables. The independent variables are often called covariates. The most common example of modeling, and one assumed to be familiar to the readers of this text, is the usual linear regression model where the outcome variable is assumed to be continuous.

What distinguishes a logistic regression model from the linear regression model is that the outcome variable in logistic regression is binary or dichotomous. This difference between logistic and linear regression is reflected both in the form of the model and its assumptions. Once this difference is accounted for, the methods employed in an analysis using logistic ...