| Abstract: | "The multistate life table (MLT) has been widely used by demographers for the past twenty years. However, the pivotal Markov condition upon which the entire methodology rests is rarely satisfied in practice. We lessen reliance upon the assumption by computing transition probabilities for longer periods of time than was previously practical. An extended Kaplan-Meier estimator accomplishes this task, simultaneously addressing the issue of censoring.... We provide an illustrative example of a 10-year period MLT, with comparison to a 1-year period MLT." The data for California are used as an illustration. (EXCERPT) |
