Effciency comparison between mean and log-rank tests for recurrent event time data

Recurrent event time data are common in biomedical follow-up studies, in which a study subject may experience repeated occurrences of an event of interest. In this paper, we evaluate two popular nonparametric tests for recurrent event time data in terms of their relative effciency. One is the log-rank test for classical survival data and the other a more recently developed nonparametric test based on comparing mean recurrent rates. We show analytically that, somewhat surprisingly, the log-rank test that onl...