Bartlett-corrected tests for normal linear models when the error covariance matrix is nonscaiar

This paper provides Bartlett corrections to improve likelihood ratio tests for heteroskedastic normal linear models when the error covariance matrix is nonscaiar and depends on a set of unknown parameters. The Bartlett corrections are simple enough to be used algebraically to obtain several closed-form expressions in special cases. The corrections have also advantages for numerical purposes because they involve only simple operations on matrices and vectors.     

Nonparametric estimation of survival functions for doubly censored observations when the lifetime hazard rate is proportionally related to the censoring hazard rates

Let T, X and Y be non-negative random variables, where T is the time of occurrence of an event of interest, X and Y being the lefl and right censoring variables respectively.

In this paper we propose a nonparametric estimator of the survival function, ST, when T, X and Y are supposed to be independent and their corresponding hazard rates are proportionally related. In this way, our results extend Ebrahimi's work (1985) to the doubly censored data case.     

Estimation and simulation of conditional hazard function in the quasi-associated framework when the observations are linked via a functional single-index structure

We consider the estimation of the conditional hazard function of a scalar response variable Y given a Hilbertian random variable X when the observations are linked via a single-index structure in the quasi-associated framework. We establish the pointwise almost complete convergence and the uniform almost complete convergence (with the rate) of the estimate of this model. A simulation is given to illustrate the good behavior in the practice of our methodology.     

Deficiency of the mle of a smooth survival function under the proportional hazard model

The problem of estimating a smooth distribution function F at a point t is treated under the proportional hazard model of random censorship. It is shown that a certain class of properly chosen kernel type estimator of F asymptotically perform better than the maximum likelihood estimator. It is shown that the relative deficiency of the maximum likelihood estimator of F under the proportional hazard model with respect to the properly chosen kernel type estimator tends to infinity as the sample size tends to infinity.     

Flexible parametric modelling of the hazard function in breast cancer studies

In cancer research, study of the hazard function provides useful insights into disease dynamics, as it describes the way in which the (conditional) probability of death changes with time. The widely utilized Cox proportional hazard model uses a stepwise nonparametric estimator for the baseline hazard function, and therefore has a limited utility. The use of parametric models and/or other approaches that enables direct estimation of the hazard function is often invoked. A recent work by Cox et al. [6 Cox, C., Chu, H., Schneider, M. F. and Munoz, A. 2007. Parametric survival analysis and taxonomy of hazard functions for the generalized gamma distribution. Stat. Med., 26: 4352–4374. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]] has stimulated the use of the flexible parametric model based on the Generalized Gamma (GG) distribution, supported by the development of optimization software. The GG distribution allows estimation of different hazard shapes in a single framework. We use the GG model to investigate the shape of the hazard function in early breast cancer patients. The flexible approach based on a piecewise exponential model and the nonparametric additive hazards model are also considered.     

Closure of the class of binary generalized linear models in some non-standard settings

This paper considers fitting generalized linear models to binary data in nonstandard settings such as case–control samples, studies with misclassified responses and misspecified models. We develop simple methods for fitting models to case–control data and show that a closure property holds for generalized linear models in the nonstandard settings, i.e. if the responses follow a generalized linear model in the population of interest, then so will the observed response in the non-standard setting, but with a modified link function. These results imply that we can analyse data and study problems in the non-standard settings by using classical generalized linear model methods such as the iteratively reweighted least squares algorithm. Example data illustrate the results.     

Optimal estimation of polynomial hazard functions

The counting process formulation (Aalen, 1978) for the analysis of life time data is briefly reviewed. This formulation is used to arrive at a regression type model and a smooth estimate of the hazard function. In the regression model, the error terms are martingales and Nelson's estimator is the dependent variable. An optimal approach for estimating the parameters of the polynomial is considered, Asymptotic normality of the optimal estimate is proved and an illustrative example is given.     

Asymptotic normality of a conditional hazard function estimate in the single index for quasi-associated data

Abstract

The main goal of this paper is to study the estimation of the conditional hazard function of a scalar response variable Y given a hilbertian random variable X in functional single-index model. We construct an estimator of this nonparametric function and we study its asymptotic properties, under quasi-associated structure. Precisely, we establish the asymptotic normality of the constructed estimator. We carried out simulation experiments to examine the behavior of this asymptotic property over finite sample data.     

A family of multiplicative survival models incorporating a long-term survivorship parameter c as a function of covariates

A family of multiplicative survival models is obtained for the analysis of clinical trial data in which a substantial proportion c of patients respond favorably to treatment with longterm survivorship. The model (MWSM) representing the hazard function for all patients as a function of c and a Weibull density is developed in which the distributional parameters and c are regressed on covariates and estimated by the method of maximum likelihood. The MWSM hazard function is monotonically increasing, peaking, then decreasing thereafter if the shape parameter exceeds unity, and is monotonically decreasing otherwise. Mortality rates with similar behavior have been empirically observed in cancer clinical trial data. A nonproportional or proportional hazards model results depending upon whether or not any Weibull parameter is regressed on covariates. Tests of hypotheses and confidence intervals for c and p-quantiles are obtained.     

Generalized linear models with covariate measurement error and unknown link function

Generalized linear models (GLMs) with error-in-covariates are useful in epidemiological research due to the ubiquity of non-normal response variables and inaccurate measurements. The link function in GLMs is chosen by the user depending on the type of response variable, frequently the canonical link function. When covariates are measured with error, incorrect inference can be made, compounded by incorrect choice of link function. In this article we propose three flexible approaches for handling error-in-covariates and estimating an unknown link simultaneously. The first approach uses a fully Bayesian (FB) hierarchical framework, treating the unobserved covariate as a latent variable to be integrated over. The second and third are approximate Bayesian approach which use a Laplace approximation to marginalize the variables measured with error out of the likelihood. Our simulation results show support that the FB approach is often a better choice than the approximate Bayesian approaches for adjusting for measurement error, particularly when the measurement error distribution is misspecified. These approaches are demonstrated on an application with binary response.     

Missing covariates in generalized linear models when the missing data mechanism is non-ignorable

We propose a method for estimating parameters in generalized linear models with missing covariates and a non-ignorable missing data mechanism. We use a multinomial model for the missing data indicators and propose a joint distribution for them which can be written as a sequence of one-dimensional conditional distributions, with each one-dimensional conditional distribution consisting of a logistic regression. We allow the covariates to be either categorical or continuous. The joint covariate distribution is also modelled via a sequence of one-dimensional conditional distributions, and the response variable is assumed to be completely observed. We derive the E- and M-steps of the EM algorithm with non-ignorable missing covariate data. For categorical covariates, we derive a closed form expression for the E- and M-steps of the EM algorithm for obtaining the maximum likelihood estimates (MLEs). For continuous covariates, we use a Monte Carlo version of the EM algorithm to obtain the MLEs via the Gibbs sampler. Computational techniques for Gibbs sampling are proposed and implemented. The parametric form of the assumed missing data mechanism itself is not `testable' from the data, and thus the non-ignorable modelling considered here can be viewed as a sensitivity analysis concerning a more complicated model. Therefore, although a model may have `passed' the tests for a certain missing data mechanism, this does not mean that we have captured, even approximately, the correct missing data mechanism. Hence, model checking for the missing data mechanism and sensitivity analyses play an important role in this problem and are discussed in detail. Several simulations are given to demonstrate the methodology. In addition, a real data set from a melanoma cancer clinical trial is presented to illustrate the methods proposed.     

Choosing the link function and accounting for link uncertainty in generalized linear models using Bayes factors

One important component of model selection using generalized linear models (GLM) is the choice of a link function. We propose using approximate Bayes factors to assess the improvement in fit over a GLM with canonical link when a parametric link family is used. The approximate Bayes factors are calculated using the Laplace approximations given in [32], together with a reference set of prior distributions. This methodology can be used to differentiate between different parametric link families, as well as allowing one to jointly select the link family and the independent variables. This involves comparing nonnested models and so standard significance tests cannot be used. The approach also accounts explicitly for uncertainty about the link function. The methods are illustrated using parametric link families studied in [12] for two data sets involving binomial responses. The first author was supported by Sonderforschungsbereich 386 Statistische Analyse Diskreter Strukturen, and the second author by NIH Grant 1R01CA094212-01 and ONR Grant N00014-01-10745.     

Generalization of the order-restricted information criterion for multivariate normal linear models

The generalized order-restricted information criterion (goric) is a model selection criterion which can, up to now, solely be applied to the analysis of variance models and, so far, only evaluate restrictions of the form Rθ≤0$R\theta \le 0$, where θ$\theta$ is a vector of k group means and R   a _cm×k$c_m\times k$ matrix. In this paper, we generalize the goric in two ways: (i) such that it can be applied to t  -variate normal linear models and (ii) such that it can evaluate a more general form of order restrictions: Rθ≤r$R\theta \le r$, where θ$\theta$ is a vector of length tk, r a vector of length c_m, and R   a _cm×tk$c_m\times \mathit{tk}$ matrix of full rank (when r≠0$r\ne 0$). At the end, we illustrate that the goric is easy to implement in a multivariate regression model.     

Performance of the difference-based estimators in partially linear models

In this paper, we consider a commonly used partially linear model. We proposed a restricted difference-based ridge estimator for the vector of parameters β in a partially linear model with one smoothing term when additional linear restrictions on the parameter vector are assumed to hold. The ideas in the paper are illustrated in a real data set and in a Monte Carlo simulation study.     

Estimation of rational transfer function models

In the estimation of rational transfer function models, it has been recommended that starting values of a transfer function component be assumed to be zero (or a constant) in the recursive computation of the transfer function response. It is demonstrated that such algorithms may lead to serious bias in the estimation of moving average parameters. This paper discusses several other algorithms that may rectify this problem. It is found that the starting-value-free (SVF) method is a more reliable algorithm. For computer programs using the traditional algorithm, i.e., the zero-starting-value (ZSV) method, the bias problem can be easily remedied using a short-cut method that omits appropriate number of values at the beginning of the residual series.     

Further results on the two-stage hierarchial information (2shi) estimators in the linear regression models

The paper considers a class of 2SHI estimators for the linear regression models and provides some results regarding the dominance in quadratic loss of this class over the OLS and usual Stein-rule estimators.     

A hybrid method to estimate the full parametric hazard model

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a hybrid method to estimate the baseline hazard for Cox proportional hazard model. In the proposed method, the nonparametric estimate of the survival function by Kaplan Meier, and the parametric estimate of the logistic function in the Cox proportional hazard by partial likelihood method are combined to estimate a parametric baseline hazard function. We compare the estimated baseline hazard using the proposed method and the Cox model. The results show that the estimated baseline hazard using hybrid method is improved in comparison with estimated baseline hazard using the Cox model. The performance of each method is measured based on the estimated parameters of the baseline distribution as well as goodness of fit of the model. We have used real data as well as simulation studies to compare performance of both methods. Monte Carlo simulations carried out in order to evaluate the performance of the proposed method. The results show that the proposed hybrid method provided better estimate of the baseline in comparison with the estimated values by the Cox model.     

Estimating the turning point of the log-logistic hazard function in the presence of long-term survivors with an application for uterine cervical cancer data

The hazard function plays an important role in cancer patient survival studies, as it quantifies the instantaneous risk of death of a patient at any given time. Often in cancer clinical trials, unimodal hazard functions are observed, and it is of interest to detect (estimate) the turning point (mode) of hazard function, as this may be an important measure in patient treatment strategies with cancer. Moreover, when patient cure is a possibility, estimating cure rates at different stages of cancer, in addition to their proportions, may provide a better summary of the effects of stages on survival rates. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to consider the problem of estimating the mode of hazard function of patients at different stages of cervical cancer in the presence of long-term survivors. To this end, a mixture cure rate model is proposed using the log-logistic distribution. The model is conveniently parameterized through the mode of the hazard function, in which cancer stages can affect both the cured fraction and the mode. In addition, we discuss aspects of model inference through the maximum likelihood estimation method. A Monte Carlo simulation study assesses the coverage probability of asymptotic confidence intervals.