# Using survival curves for comparison of ordinal qualitative data in clinical studies

**Authors:** B. de B. Pereira, E. M. Nascimento, F. Felix, G. F. M. Rezende  
**arXiv:** [0904.3915](https://arxiv.org/abs/0904.3915)  
**Date:** 2009-04-24  
**Summary page:** https://www.summarizepaper.com/en/paper/0904.3915v1/

## Key points

- The article proposes the use of survival analysis as an alternative non-parametric approach for comparing ordinal qualitative data.
- Two case studies are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of this method.
- The first case study involves a clinical trial investigating the safety and efficacy of silymarin/metionin for chronic hepatitis C, which showed no significant difference between treatments.
- The second case study is a prospective study to identify gustatory alterations due to chorda tympani nerve involvement in patients with chronic otitis media without prior surgery, which revealed a significant association between healthy and affected sides of the face (p < 0.05).
- This method offers an effective procedure for comparing samples from ordinal qualitative variables which may be more familiar to clinical researchers than traditional statistical tests.
- This approach has potential applications in various fields where ordinal qualitative data is prevalent such as psychology and social sciences.

## Summary

The article "Using survival curves for comparison of ordinal qualitative data in clinical studies" proposes the use of survival analysis as an alternative non-parametric approach for comparing ordinal qualitative data. The authors present two case studies to demonstrate the effectiveness of this method. The first case study involves a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial investigating the safety and efficacy of silymarin/metionin for chronic hepatitis C. The results show no significant difference between the two treatments (p > 0.5). The second case study is a prospective study to identify gustatory alterations due to chorda tympani nerve involvement in patients with chronic otitis media without prior surgery. The results reveal a significant association between the healthy side and affected side of the face of patients with chronic otitis media related to gustatory alterations (p < 0.05). The proposed method offers an effective procedure for comparing samples from ordinal qualitative variables which may be more familiar to clinical researchers than traditional statistical tests. This approach has potential applications in various fields where ordinal qualitative data is prevalent such as psychology and social sciences. Overall, this article provides valuable insights into using survival analysis as an effective tool for analyzing and comparing ordinal qualitative data in clinical studies.