The Additive Hazards Model for Multiple Type Recurrent Gap Times

In many biomedical and engineering studies, recurrent event data and gap times between successive events are common and often more than one type of recurrent events is of interest. It is well known that the proportional hazards model may not be appropriate for fitting survival times in some settings. In the paper, we consider an additive hazards model for multiple type recurrent gap times data to assess the effect of covariates. For inferences about regression coefficients and baseline cumulative hazard functions, an estimating equation approach is developed. Furthermore, we establish asymptotic properties of the proposed estimators.     

The Additive-multiplicative Hazards Mo del for Multiple Typ e of Recurrent Gap Times

Recurrent event gap times data frequently arise in biomedical studies and often more than one type of event is of interest. To evaluate the effects of covariates on the marginal recurrent event hazards...     

An additive-multiplicative rates model for multivariate recurrent events with event categories missing at random

Multivariate recurrent event data arises when study subjects may experience more than one type of recurrent events. In some situations, however, although event times are always observed, event categories may be partially missing. In this paper, an additive-multiplicative rates model is proposed for the analysis of multivariate recurrent event data when event categories are missing at random. A weighted estimating equations approach is developed for parameter estimation, and the resulting estimators are shown to be consistent and asymptotically normal. In addition, a model-checking technique is presented to assess the adequacy of the model. Simulation studies are conducted to evaluate the finite sample behavior of the proposed estimators, and an application to a platelet transfusion reaction study is provided.     

Additive hazards models for gap time data with multiple causes

Recurrent event data with multiple causes are often observed in biomedical studies. The additive hazards model describes a different aspect of the association between covariates and the failure time than does the proportional hazards model. In this paper, we introduce additive hazards models for the analysis of gap time data of recurrent events with multiple causes. We estimate the regression parameter vector and cumulative baseline cause specific hazard rate function using counting process approach. Asymptotic properties of the estimators are studied. The proposed model is applied to the kidney dialysis data given in Lawless (2003). A simulation study is carried out to assess the performance of the estimates.     

Varying-coefficient model for the occurrence rate function of recurrent events

This article mainly considers the recurrent event process with independent censoring mechanism through a more flexible varying-coefficient model. The smoothing estimators for the varying-coefficient functions are also proposed via maximizing the kernel weight version of the log-partial likelihood function with respect to the coefficients at each time point. For the selection of appropriate bandwidths and the construction of confidence intervals, the consistent empirical smoothing estimators for the covariance functions of the estimators and a bias correction method are considered. As for the baseline effect function of recurrent events in the population, two different smoothing estimation methods are suggested and investigated. In this study, the asymptotic properties of the proposed smoothing estimators are derived. The finite sample properties of our methods are examined through a Monte Carlo simulation. Moreover, the procedures are applied to a recurrent sample of AIDS link to intravenous experiences (ALIVE) cohort study.     

Regression Analysis of Doubly Censored Data with a Cured Subgroup under a Class of Promotion Time Cure Models

In some situations, the failure time of interest is defined as the gap time between two related events and the observations on both event times can suffer either right or interval censoring.Such data are usually referred to as doubly censored data and frequently encountered in many clinical and observational studies. Additionally, there may also exist a cured subgroup in the whole population,which means that not every individual under study will experience the failure time of interest eventually. In this paper, we consider regression analysis of doubly censored data with a cured subgroup under a wide class of flexible transformation cure models. Specifically, we consider marginal likelihood estimation and develop a two-step approach by combining the multiple imputation and a new expectation-maximization(EM) algorithm for its implementation. The resulting estimators are shown to be consistent and asymptotically normal. The finite sample performance of the proposed method is investigated through simulation studies. The proposed method is also applied to a real dataset arising from an AIDS cohort study for illustration.     

Semi-Markov Modelling for Multi-State Systems

In this work we focus on multi state systems that we model by means of semi-Markov processes. The sojourn times are seen to be independent not identically distributed random variables and assumed to belong to a general class of distributions that includes several popular reliability distributions like the exponential, Weibull, and Pareto. We obtain maximum likelihood estimators of the parameters of interest and investigate their asymptotic properties. Plug-in type estimators are furnished for various quantities related to the system under study.     

多类型复发事件下变系数加性乘积比率回归模型

本文基于多类型复发事件数据,讨论了一个新的加性乘积比率回归模型,该模型包括两部分,其中第一部分为可加Aalen模型,其中协变量影响为加性的且与时间有关.第二部分为Cox回归模型,其中协变量有乘性影响.利用估计方程的方法,给出了该模型中未知参数和非参数函数的一种估计方法,并利用现代经验过程理沦证明了所得估计的相合性和渐近正态性.     

带相依终止事件的复发事件数据的可加可乘比率模型

本文对带相依终止事件的复发事件数据提出了一个联合建模分析方法,用一个带脆弱变量的可加可乘比率模型来刻画复发事件过程,还用带脆弱变量的Cox风险率模型来刻画终止事件过程,而且这两个过程的相依性由脆弱变量来刻画.我们利用估计方程的方法,对模型参数进行了估计,给出了所得估计的渐近性质.同时,通过数值模拟分析验证了估计的渐近性质.最后,利用该方法分析了弗吉尼亚大学慢性心脏病病人医疗诊费数据.     

An efficient risk estimator with external information under additive hazards model

Rare event data is encountered when the events of interest occur with low frequency, and the estimators based on the cohort data only may be inefficient. However, when external information is available for the estimation, the estimators utilizing external information can be more efficient. In this paper, we propose a method to incorporate external information into the estimation of the baseline hazard function and improve efficiency for estimating the absolute risk under the additive hazards model. The resulting estimators are shown to be uniformly consistent and converge weakly to Gaussian processes. Simulation studies demonstrate that the proposed method is much more efficient. An application to a bone marrow transplant data set is provided.     

A class of transformation rate models for recurrent event data

Recurrent event data frequently occur in longitudinal studies, and it is often of interest to estimate the effects of covariates on the recurrent event rate. This paper considers a class of semiparametric transformation rate models for recurrent event data, which uses an additive Aalen model as its covariate dependent baseline. The new models are flexible in that they allow for both additive and multiplicative covariate effects, and some covariate effects are allowed to be nonparametric and time-varying. An estimating procedure is proposed for parameter estimation, and the resulting estimators are shown to be consistent and asymptotically normal. Simulation studies and a real data analysis demonstrate that the proposed method performs well and is appropriate for practical use.     

Robust loss reserving in a log-linear model

It is well known that the presence of outlier events can overestimate or underestimate the overall reserve when using the chain-ladder method. The lack of robustness of loss reserving estimators leads to the development of this paper. The appearance of outlier events (including large claims—catastrophic events) can offset the result of the ordinary chain ladder technique and perturb the reserving estimation. Our proposal is to apply robust statistical procedures to the loss reserving estimation, which are insensitive to the occurrence of outlier events in the data. This paper considers robust log-linear and ANOVA models to the analysis of loss reserving by using different type of robust estimators, such as LAD-estimators, M-estimators, LMS-estimators, LTS-estimators, MM-estimators (with initial S-estimate) and Adaptive-estimators. Comparisons of these estimators are also presented, with application of a well known data set.     

Semiparametric regression analysis for clustered doubly-censored data

This paper considers clustered doubly-censored data that occur when there exist several correlated survival times of interest and only doubly censored data are available for each survival time. In this situation, one approach is to model the marginal distribution of failure times using semiparametric linear transformation models while leaving the dependence structure completely arbitrary. We demonstrate that the approach of Cai et al. (Biometrika 87:867–878, 2000) can be extended to clustered doubly censored data. We propose two estimators by using two different estimated censoring weights. A simulation study is conducted to investigate the proposed estimators.     

Analyzing right-censored length-biased data with additive hazards model

Length-biased data are often encountered in observational studies, when the survival times are left-truncated and right-censored and the truncation times follow a uniform distribution. In this article, we propose to analyze such data with the additive hazards model, which specifies that the hazard function is the sum of an arbitrary baseline hazard function and a regression function of covariates. We develop estimating equation approaches to estimate the regression parameters. The resultant estimators are shown to be consistent and asymptotically normal. Some simulation studies and a real data example are used to evaluate the finite sample properties of the proposed estimators.     

基于纵向数据的半参数变系数部分线性回归模型

纵向数据是数理统计研究中的复杂数据类型之一0,在生物、医学和经济学中具有广泛的应用．在实际中经常需要对纵向数据进行统计分析和建模．文章讨论了纵向数据下的半参数变系数部分线性回归模型,这里的纵向数据的在纵向观察在时间上可以是不均等的,也可看成是按某一随机过程来发生．所研究的半参数变系数模型包括了许多半参数模型,比如部分线性模型和变系数模型等．利用计数过程理论和局部线性回归方法,对于纵向数据下半参数变系数进行了统计推断,给出了参数分量和非参数分量的profile最小二乘估计,研究了这些估计的渐近性质,获得这些估计的相合性和渐近正态性．     

Asymptotics on Semiparametric Analysis of Multivariate Failure Time Data Under the Additive Hazards Model

Many survival studies record the times to two or more distinct failures on each subject. The failures may be events of different natures or may be repetitions of the same kind of event. In this article, we consider the regression analysis of such multivariate failure time data under the additive hazards model. Simple weighted estimating functions for the regression parameters are proposed, and asymptotic distribution theory of the resulting estimators are derived. In addition, a class of generalized Wald and generalized score statistics for hypothesis testing and model selection are presented, and the asymptotic properties of these statistics are examined.     

Time-varying latent model for longitudinal data with informative observation and terminal event times

Longitudinal data often occur in follow-up studies, and in many situations, there may exist informative observation times and a dependent terminal event such as death that stops the follow-up. We propose a semiparametric mixed effect model with time-varying latent effects in the analysis of longitudinal data with informative observation times and a dependent terminal event. Estimating equation approaches are developed for parameter estimation, and asymptotic properties of the resulting estimators are established. The finite sample behavior of the proposed estimators is evaluated through simulation studies, and an application to a bladder cancer study is provided.     

A semiparametric additive rates model for clustered recurrent event data

Recurrent event data often arises in biomedical studies, and individuals within a cluster might not be independent. We propose a semiparametric additive rates model for clustered recurrent event data, wherein the covariates are assumed to add to the unspecified baseline rate. For the inference on the model parameters, estimating equation approaches are developed, and both large and finite sample properties of the proposed estimators are established.     

Bivariate Birnbaum–Saunders distribution and associated inference

Univariate Birnbaum–Saunders distribution has been used quite effectively to model positively skewed data, especially lifetime data and crack growth data. In this paper, we introduce bivariate Birnbaum–Saunders distribution which is an absolutely continuous distribution whose marginals are univariate Birnbaum–Saunders distributions. Different properties of this bivariate Birnbaum–Saunders distribution are then discussed. This new family has five unknown parameters and it is shown that the maximum likelihood estimators can be obtained by solving two non-linear equations. We also propose simple modified moment estimators for the unknown parameters which are explicit and can therefore be used effectively as an initial guess for the computation of the maximum likelihood estimators. We then present the asymptotic distributions of the maximum likelihood estimators and use them to construct confidence intervals for the parameters. We also discuss likelihood ratio tests for some hypotheses of interest. Monte Carlo simulations are then carried out to examine the performance of the proposed estimators. Finally, a numerical data analysis is performed in order to illustrate all the methods of inference discussed here.     

A general additive-multiplicative rates model for recurrent event data

In this article, we propose a general additive-multiplicative rates model for recurrent event data. The proposed model includes the additive rates and multiplicative rates models as special cases. For the inference on the model parameters, estimating equation approaches are developed, and asymptotic properties of the proposed estimators are established through modern empirical process theory. In addition, an illustration with multiple-infection data from a clinic study on chronic granulomatous disease is pr...