Frailty Models (frailty + models)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Multivariate Survival Trees: A Maximum Likelihood Approach Based on Frailty Models

BIOMETRICS, Issue 1 2004
Xiaogang Su
Summary. A method of constructing trees for correlated failure times is put forward. It adopts the backfitting idea of classification and regression trees (CART) (Breiman et al., 1984, in Classification and Regression Trees). The tree method is developed based on the maximized likelihoods associated with the gamma frailty model and standard likelihood-related techniques are incorporated. The proposed method is assessed through simulations conducted under a variety of model configurations and illustrated using the chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) study data. [source]


Proportional hazards estimate of the conditional survival function

JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL STATISTICAL SOCIETY: SERIES B (STATISTICAL METHODOLOGY), Issue 4 2000
Ronghui Xu
We introduce a new estimator of the conditional survival function given some subset of the covariate values under a proportional hazards regression. The new estimate does not require estimating the base-line cumulative hazard function. An estimate of the variance is given and is easy to compute, involving only those quantities that are routinely calculated in a Cox model analysis. The asymptotic normality of the new estimate is shown by using a central limit theorem for Kaplan,Meier integrals. We indicate the straightforward extension of the estimation procedure under models with multiplicative relative risks, including non-proportional hazards, and to stratified and frailty models. The estimator is applied to a gastric cancer study where it is of interest to predict patients' survival based only on measurements obtained before surgery, the time at which the most important prognostic variable, stage, becomes known. [source]


Bayesian Spatial Survival Models for Political Event Processes

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, Issue 1 2009
David Darmofal
Research in political science is increasingly, but independently, modeling heterogeneity and spatial dependence. This article draws together these two research agendas via spatial random effects survival models. In contrast to standard survival models, which assume spatial independence, spatial survival models allow for spatial autocorrelation at neighboring locations. I examine spatial dependence in both semiparametric Cox and parametric Weibull models and in both individual and shared frailty models. I employ a Bayesian approach in which spatial autocorrelation in unmeasured risk factors across neighboring units is incorporated via a conditionally autoregressive (CAR) prior. I apply the Bayesian spatial survival modeling approach to the timing of U.S. House members' position announcements on NAFTA. I find that spatial shared frailty models outperform standard nonfrailty models and nonspatial frailty models in both the semiparametric and parametric analyses. The modeling of spatial dependence also produces changes in the effects of substantive covariates in the analysis. [source]