SF32. Cancer symptoms' network differences between male (n=295) and female (n=1033) cancer patients, Max-Min Hill Climbing, optimal threshold according to Scurati & Nagarajan, 2013

We compared the network structures created from the symptoms' experiences of male and female cancer patients. Both network structures have been realised with the Max-Min Hill Climbing Bayesian Network (BN) algorithm. Their final structure was created after we ran 10.000 Bayesian Networks and used the Scutari and Nagarajan’s statistically-driven method for retaining the true edges in the final, averaged network.[1] If an edge pointed from symptom X to symptom Y in at least 51% of the networks, then this direction was depicted in the final, averaged network.

The green dotted edges represent symptom relationships that appeared in both groups of cancer patients. The red edges represent symptom relationships that appeared only in the group of female cancer patients. The blue edges represent symptom relationships that appeared only in the group of male cancer patients.

By clicking on a node you can see its markov blanket, meaning the specific symptom with its parents and children. You can see the same markov blanket by selecting a symptom in the menu on the left.

You can move each node in the diagram by click and drag. To deselect it click on the white space of the diagram. To restart the diagram refresh the page.

To see the full description of the symptoms' labels go to the bottom of the page, below the main diagram.

Differences Between Gender Groups

The 38 cancer symptoms illustrated in the graph above are coded in the following fashion:

difcon: Difficulty Concentrating, pain: Pain, energy: Lack of Energy, cough: Cough, nervous: Feeling Nervous, hotflash: Hot Flashes, drymouth: Dry Mouth, nausea: Nausea, drowsy: Feeling Drowsy, numb: Numbness or Tingling in Hands or Feet, chest: Chest Tightness, difbreath: Difficulty Breathing, difsleep: Difficulty Sleeping, bloat: Feeling Bloated, urinate: Problems with Urination, vomit: Vomitting, sob: Shortness of Breath, diarrhea: Diarrhea, sad: Feeling Sad, sweats: Sweats, sexual: Problems with Sexual Interest or Activity, worry: Worrying, itch: Itching, appetite: Lack of Appetite, abdominal: Abdominal Cramps, increaseapp: Increased Appetite, wtgain: Weight Gain, dizzy: Dizziness, swallow: Difficulty Swallowing, irritable: Feeling Irritable, mouthsore: Mouth Sore, wtloss: Weight Loss, hairloss: Hair Loss, constipat: Constipation, swelling: Swelling, taste: Change in the Way Food Tastes, myself: I Do Not Look Like Myself, skin: Changes in Skin.

[1] Scutari M, Nagarajan R. Identifying significant edges in graphical models of molecular networks. Artificial intelligence in medicine. 2013 Mar 1;57(3):207-17.