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Assessing the goodness‐of‐fit of the Laird and Ware model – an example: the Jimma Infant Survival Differential Longitudinal Study
Author(s) -
Lesaffre Emmanuel,
Asefa Makonnen,
Verbeke Geert
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
statistics in medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.996
H-Index - 183
eISSN - 1097-0258
pISSN - 0277-6715
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-0258(19990415)18:7<835::aid-sim75>3.0.co;2-7
Subject(s) - context (archaeology) , longitudinal study , goodness of fit , differential (mechanical device) , medicine , statistics , demography , mathematics , geography , sociology , archaeology , aerospace engineering , engineering
The Jimma Infant Survival Differential Longitudinal Study is an Ethiopian study, set up to establish risk factors affecting infant survival and to investigate socio‐economic, maternal and infant‐rearing factors that contribute most to the child's early survival. Here, a subgroup of about 1500 children born in Jimma town is examined for their first year's weight gain. Of special interest is the impact of certain cultural practices like uvulectomy, milk teeth extraction and butter swallowing , on child's weight gain; these have never been thoroughly investigated in any study. In this context, the linear mixed model (Laird and Ware) is employed. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the practical issues when constructing the longitudinal model. Recently developed diagnostics will be used herefor. Finally, special attention will be paid to the two‐stage interpretation of the linear mixed model. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.