2013 Special Topics Conference: Peaks and pitfalls in longitudinal studies of symptom outcome data

Symptom science is inherent in nursing care, with symptoms being guideposts for practice. The occurrence of symptoms has the potential to impact multiple health outcomes. In order to identify the natural history of a symptom, longitudinal data related to the occurrence and severity of symptoms over the disease/treatment epoch are essential and should include the collection of potential biologic correlates. One of the primary limitations with longitudinal studies is the problem of data missingness. This can then impact the analysis and interpretation of findings. Additionally, there are a variety of approaches to the analysis of the data. As part of the American Academy of Nursing Special Topics Conference this year, issues related to the planning and analysis of longitudinal data analysis were discussed. This article provides a summary of the presented content at that meeting.