Scientific Publications by FDA Staff

Drug Info J 2012 Nov;46(6):701-7

Heat Map Displays for Data From Human Abuse Potential Crossover Studies

Chen L, Wang Y

The human abuse potential study is an important part of the assessment of abuse potential of drugs. This type of study has multiple treatments and multiple abuse potential measures. The study is crossover and often uses a Williams square design. Data are collected for treatments from each treatment sequence and during each treatment period at many time points. This article proposes the use of heat maps to display complicated data sets. This graphic method provides a visual tool for exploring data from individual subjects and overall pictures of subject responses in human abuse potential studies.