A NONPARAMETRIC MIXED‐EFFECTS MODEL FOR CANCER MORTALITY

There are several ways to handle within‐subject correlations with a longitudinal discrete outcome, such as mortality. The most frequently used models are either marginal or random‐effects types. This paper deals with a random‐effects‐based approach. We propose a nonparametric regression model having time‐varying mixed effects for longitudinal cancer mortality data. The time‐varying mixed effects in the proposed model are estimated by combining kernel‐smoothing techniques and a growth‐curve model. As an illustration based on real data, we apply the proposed method to a set of prefecture‐specific data on mortality from large‐bowel cancer in Japan.     

RATES OF CONVERGENCE IN SEMI-PARAMETRIC MODELLING OF LONGITUDINAL DATA

We consider the problem of semi-parametric regression modelling when the data consist of a collection of short time series for which measurements within series are correlated. The objective is to estimate a regression function of the form E[Y(t) | x] =x'ß+μ(t), where μ(.) is an arbitrary, smooth function of time t, and x is a vector of explanatory variables which may or may not vary with t. For the non-parametric part of the estimation we use a kernel estimator with fixed bandwidth h. When h is chosen without reference to the data we give exact expressions for the bias and variance of the estimators for β and μ(t) and an asymptotic analysis of the case in which the number of series tends to infinity whilst the number of measurements per series is held fixed. We also report the results of a small-scale simulation study to indicate the extent to which the theoretical results continue to hold when h is chosen by a data-based cross-validation method.     

Simultaneous structure estimation and variable selection in partial linear varying coefficient models for longitudinal data

Partial linear varying coefficient models (PLVCM) are often considered for analysing longitudinal data for a good balance between flexibility and parsimony. The existing estimation and variable selection methods for this model are mainly built upon which subset of variables have linear or varying effect on the response is known in advance, or say, model structure is determined. However, in application, this is unreasonable. In this work, we propose a simultaneous structure estimation and variable selection method, which can do simultaneous coefficient estimation and three types of selections: varying and constant effects selection, relevant variable selection. It can be easily implemented in one step by employing a penalized M-type regression, which uses a general loss function to treat mean, median, quantile and robust mean regressions in a unified framework. Consistency in the three types of selections and oracle property in estimation are established as well. Simulation studies and real data analysis also confirm our method.     

Empirical likelihood inference in mixture of semiparametric varying-coefficient models for longitudinal data with non-ignorable dropout

In this paper, empirical likelihood inference in mixture of semiparametric varying-coefficient models for longitudinal data with non-ignorable dropout is investigated. We estimate the non-parametric function based on the estimating equations and the local linear profile-kernel method. An empirical log-likelihood ratio statistic for parametric components is proposed to construct confidence regions and is shown to be an asymptotically chi-squared distribution. The non-parametric version of Wilk's theorem is also derived. A simulation study is undertaken to illustrate the finite sample performance of the proposed method.     

Kernel‐based Generalized Cross‐validation in Non‐parametric Mixed‐effect Models

Abstract. Although generalized cross‐validation (GCV) has been frequently applied to select bandwidth when kernel methods are used to estimate non‐parametric mixed‐effect models in which non‐parametric mean functions are used to model covariate effects, and additive random effects are applied to account for overdispersion and correlation, the optimality of the GCV has not yet been explored. In this article, we construct a kernel estimator of the non‐parametric mean function. An equivalence between the kernel estimator and a weighted least square type estimator is provided, and the optimality of the GCV‐based bandwidth is investigated. The theoretical derivations also show that kernel‐based and spline‐based GCV give very similar asymptotic results. This provides us with a solid base to use kernel estimation for mixed‐effect models. Simulation studies are undertaken to investigate the empirical performance of the GCV. A real data example is analysed for illustration.