DOI: 10.36106/ijsr/1830060 ISSN:

THE PERCENT FRAGILITY INDEX

Thomas F Heston
  • Applied Mathematics
  • General Mathematics
  • General Medicine
  • General Chemistry
  • Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine
  • Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health
  • Microbiology
  • Immunology
  • General Medicine
  • General Medicine
  • Pharmacology (medical)
  • General Medicine
  • General Medicine

This article proposes the Percent Fragility Index (PFI) as an improved measure of statistical fragility in biomedical research. The PFI quanties the percentage change in outcomes needed to change a study's statistical signicance from positive to negative or vice-versa. The PFI improves upon existing indices by providing an intuitive statistic that is easy to grasp and by accommodating both dichotomous and continuous variables. This approach minimizes dependency. on sample size, a limitation of the commonly used Fragility Index (FI) and Fragility Quotient (FQ). The FI measures the minimum number of outcome events required to reverse statistical signicance, and the FQ divides the FI by the total sample size. The PFI enhances the interpretability and validity of fragility assessments. PFI facilitates a more critical understanding of research outcomes by offering readers a more precise estimate of study fragility

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