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Nonparametric estimation of the survival function for ordered multivariate failure time data: A comparative study
Author(s) -
MeiraMachado Luís,
Sestelo Marta,
Gonçalves Andreia
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
biometrical journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.108
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1521-4036
pISSN - 0323-3847
DOI - 10.1002/bimj.201500038
Subject(s) - survival function , bivariate analysis , estimator , nonparametric statistics , econometrics , statistics , multivariate statistics , kaplan–meier estimator , mathematics , conditional probability distribution , survival analysis , estimation , event (particle physics) , economics , physics , management , quantum mechanics
In longitudinal studies of disease, patients may experience several events through a follow‐up period. In these studies, the sequentially ordered events are often of interest and lead to problems that have received much attention recently. Issues of interest include the estimation of bivariate survival, marginal distributions, and the conditional distribution of gap times. In this work, we consider the estimation of the survival function conditional to a previous event. Different nonparametric approaches will be considered for estimating these quantities, all based on the Kaplan–Meier estimator of the survival function. We explore the finite sample behavior of the estimators through simulations. The different methods proposed in this article are applied to a dataset from a German Breast Cancer Study. The methods are used to obtain predictors for the conditional survival probabilities as well as to study the influence of recurrence in overall survival.