How can I account for a nonlinear independent variable in a logistic regression?
For example, consider this data set:
b1 b2 b3 b4 b5
1 1 0 0 20
0 1 0 0 20
1 0 0 0 13
1 1 1 0 8
1 1 0 1 5
0 1 0 1 4
1 1 0 1 5
0 0 0 0 8
0 0 1 0 13
1 0 0 1 20
1 0 0 0 29
1 1 0 1 40
1 0 0 0 53
0 1 1 0 68
Suppose I gathered some data like the above (suppose I had 10,000 rows) and I want to use them to predict future sets of similar data with an equation generated by a logistic regression. I get the above data. My independent variables are b1 through b5. By looking at the data, I can clearly see that independent variables b1 through b4 are binary (maybe they are male/female, rent/own, etc).
However I see that b5 is clearly not binary. Upon graphing it and looking at the numbers I determine that the b5 variable has a bathtub shaped U curve with an equation of b5=(x-4)^2+4.
I understand that using the b5 variable as it is would screw up my logistic regression - since any interval independent variables must have a linear relationship with the dependent variable.
Yet, I must account for the variable b5 in my data set while doing a logistic regression for it to be accurate and predict well (right?).
Given the above data, how would I go about making a predictive model with a logistic regression? Any references online or in books would greatly be appreciated as I am having trouble finding a good explanation of the above.
Cheers =)
EDIT:
Sorry if my question is unclear.
Consider this: Suppose we had the following data on many people:
Y: Whether they had a stroke before the age of 50 or not 1. Whether they own a pet or not. 2. Whether they graduated college or not. 3. Whether they are male or female. 4. The number of hours they exercise every week.
We want to train a logistic regression model based on historical data to predict if someone in the future with the same data will be more apt or not to have a stroke before the age of 50.
The problem I am having is with the last variable. A continuous ratio variable like "number of hours exercised each week."
Exercising more each week may have diminishing returns on health and thus having a stroke. For example decreasing an increasing rate. Or maybe (totally made up) exercising a little bit is really good for you, exercising a moderate amount is really bad for you, and exercising a lot is really good for you again. We might have a U shaped curve like (x-4)^2+4 for example when plotting health to exercise.
I would image that having a curved, non-linear independent variable in a logistic regression like the one I described above would cause problems. Am I right? And if so, what kinds of things can you do to still include the variable in the logistic regression. Perhaps a transformation? Is that all?
y=(x-4)^2+4
implies your outcome is not binary valued. $\endgroup$