<i>bmd</i> : an R package for benchmark dose estimation
Signe Marie Jensen, Felix M. Kluxen, J. C. Streibig, Nina Cedergreen, Christian Ritz
Abstract
The benchmark dose (BMD) methodology is used to derive a hazard characterization measure for risk assessment in toxicology or ecotoxicology. The present paper’s objective is to introduce the R extension package bmd, which facilitates the estimation of BMD and the benchmark dose lower limit for a wide range of dose-response models via the popular package drc . It allows using the most current statistical methods for BMD estimation, including model averaging. The package bmd can be used for BMD estimation for binomial, continuous, and count data in a simple set up or from complex hierarchical designs and is introduced using four examples. While there are other stand-alone software solutions available to estimate BMDs, the package bmd facilitates easy estimation within the established and flexible statistical environment R . It allows the rapid implementation of available, novel, and future statistical methods and the integration of other statistical analyses.