Major focus of previous research in the MACS has been the description of
the rates of disease progression (from incubation period to trajectories
of immunological markers) and the determination of factors associated with
transmission and disease progression among those infected. The MACS has
accumulated longitudinal data and a repository of samples over a span of
ten years in a large number of participants. We have characterized
subsets of individuals with patterns of immunologic markers that are
indicative of immunity, for which the elucidation of correlates is of
central importance.
The Center for Analysis and Management of MACS Data (CAMACS) will continue
to provide methodologic expertise in the design and analysis of MACS-wide
studies, including the development of new procedures for the analysis of
MACS data. Of particular importance for the extension of the cooperative
agreement is the provision of statistical and epidemiological expertise in
the design and analysis of HIV pathogenesis to compare subsets of the
cohort with contrasting patterns of disease progression in individuals who
are comparable with respect to known factors associated with disease
progression (e.g., CD4 cell count). CAMACS will coordinate data
acquisition, maintain and expand standardization procedures for
transferring, editing, merging, storing and backing up the data. CAMACS
will participate in study working groups and writing committees. CAMACS
will revise the current public use data tape annually.
Data will be organized in files readily usable by SAS and will reside in
a SUN 69OMP networked with SUN SPARCstations. Software includes ORACLE,
SAS, S and EGRET. Investigators have expertise in relevant areas of
epidemiology/statistics for cohort studies of the nature of the MACS
(e.g., longitudinal data: continuous and categorical; survival analysis:
truncation, censoring, parametric and nonparametric methods).
Epidemiologic expertise for properly nesting substudies within the cohort
will be provided. The methodological expertise offered by CAMACS will
contribute to the appropriate design of HIV pathogenesis studies and to
the interpretation of inferences and results from the MACS data.
Error Notice
The database may currently be offline for maintenance and should be operational soon. If not, we have been notified of this error and will be reviewing it shortly.
We apologize for the inconvenience.
- The DCCPS Team.
