Abstract
Data mining is the discovery of interesting, unexpected or valuable structures in large datasets. As such, it has two rather different aspects. One of these concerns large-scale, ‘global’ structures, and the aim is to model the shapes, or features of the shapes, of distributions. The other concerns small-scale, ‘local’ structures, and the aim is to detect these anomalies and decide if they are real or chance occurrences. In the context of signal detection in the pharmaceutical sector, most interest lies in the second of the above two aspects; however, signal detection occurs relative to an assumed background model, therefore, some discussion of the first aspect is also necessary. This paper gives a lightning overview of data mining and its relation to statistics, with particular emphasis on tools for the detection of adverse drug reactions.
References
Hand DJ, Manila H, Smyth P. Principles of data mining. Cambridge (MA): The MIT Press, 2001
Hand DJ, Blunt G, Kelly MG, et al. Data mining for fun and profit. Stat Sci 2000; 15(2): 111–31
Acknowledgements
No sources of funding were used to assist in the preparation of this paper. The author has no conflicts of interest that are directly relevant to the content of this paper.
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Hand, D.J. Principles of Data Mining. Drug-Safety 30, 621–622 (2007). https://doi.org/10.2165/00002018-200730070-00010
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.2165/00002018-200730070-00010