Possible contribution of advanced statistical methods (artificial neural networks and linear discriminant analysis) in recognition of patients with suspected atrophic body gastritis

Table 3 Independent variables identified by LDA as most predictive for the diagnosis of ABG with respective correlation coefficients

Independent variables	Correlation coefficients
Pepsinogen I1	42
Gastrin1	0.4
Age	–0.37
Association with other diseases not previously mentioned2	0.35
Other (not gastrointestinal) symptoms3	0.34
Onset of presentation symptoms (mo)	0.25
Other gastrointestinal symptoms4	0.25
Antibodies against parietal cells1	0.23

¹Serological variables;

²represented in data set by cardiovascular diseases, diabetes type II and other causes of iron-deficiency anemia;

³represented in data set by asthenia, fatigue, and headache;

⁴represented in data set by diarrhea, abdominal pain, and bloating.