{
  "abstract": "Heaping or digit preference is frequently occurring in health research data as well as in deliberate data masking. We investigate the associated loss of power associated by degree of heaping by simulation and illustrate the effect with a real dataset. Moderate heaping leads to little power loss and may be tolerable. However, heaping in broad categories induces major power loss and should be avoided.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Institute of Biometry and Clinical Epidemiology, Charité - University Medical Center Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Charitéplatz 1, 10117, Berlin, Germany. matthias.becher@charite.de.",
    "Institute of Medical Biometry and Statistics, Faculty of Medicine and Medical Center, University of Freiburg, Stefan-Meier-Straße 26, 79104, Freiburg, Germany.",
    "Heidelberg Institute of Global Health, University Hospital Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 130.3, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany."
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 3,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Matthias Becher",
      "orcid": "0009-0007-1267-8854"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Willi Sauerbrei",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-6792-4123"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Heiko Becher",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-8808-6667"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/76vgmf6ryct2b.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1186/s12874-026-03043-4",
  "fulltext_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13676790",
  "id": "76vgmf6ryct2b",
  "issns": [
    "1471-2288"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42892672",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2613|Statistical Methods in Epidemiology"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7222809028",
  "pdf_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13676790?pdf=render",
  "pmcid": "PMC13676790",
  "pmid": "42892672",
  "published": "2026-10-17",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/76vgmf6ryct2b.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:18:46Z",
      "native_id": "MED:42892672",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42892672"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "mathematics",
      "origin": "openalex:2613|Statistical Methods in Epidemiology",
      "subfield": "statistics"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Loss of power by degree of heaping in covariables.",
  "title_text": "Loss of power by degree of heaping in covariables.",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:18:46Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/76vgmf6ryct2b",
  "venue": "BMC medical research methodology",
  "versions": []
}