Seasonality, mediation and comparison (SMAC) methods to identify influences on lung function decline

This study develops a comprehensive method to assess seasonal influences on a longitudinal marker and compare estimates between cohorts. The method extends existing approaches by (i) combining a sine-cosine model of seasonality with a specialized covariance function for modeling longitudinal correlation; (ii) performing mediation analysis on a seasonality model. An example dataset and R code are provided. The bundle of methods is referred to as seasonality, mediation and comparison (SMAC). The case study described utilizes lung function as the marker observed on a cystic fibrosis cohort but SMAC can be used to evaluate other markers and in other disease contexts. Key aspects of customization are as follows.• This study introduces a novel seasonality model to fit trajectories of lung function decline and demonstrates how to compare this model to a conventional model in this context.• Steps required for mediation analyses in the seasonality model are shown.• The necessary calculations to compare seasonality models between cohorts, based on estimation coefficients, are derived in the study.