Journal of Medical Internet Research (Jul 2021)

Web-Based Survival Analysis Tool Tailored for Medical Research (KMplot): Development and Implementation

  • András Lánczky,
  • Balázs Győrffy

DOI
https://doi.org/10.2196/27633
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 23, no. 7
p. e27633

Abstract

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BackgroundSurvival analysis is a cornerstone of medical research, enabling the assessment of clinical outcomes for disease progression and treatment efficiency. Despite its central importance, no commonly used spreadsheet software can handle survival analysis and there is no web server available for its computation. ObjectiveHere, we introduce a web-based tool capable of performing univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards survival analysis using data generated by genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, or metabolomic studies. MethodsWe implemented different methods to establish cut-off values for the trichotomization or dichotomization of continuous data. The false discovery rate is computed to correct for multiple hypothesis testing. A multivariate analysis option enables comparing omics data with clinical variables. ResultsWe established a registration-free web-based survival analysis tool capable of performing univariate and multivariate survival analysis using any custom-generated data. ConclusionsThis tool fills a gap and will be an invaluable contribution to basic medical and clinical research.