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Estimation of age‐specific sensitivity and sojourn time in breast cancer screening studies
Author(s) -
Cong Xiuyu J.,
Shen Yu,
Miller Anthony B.
Publication year - 2005
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/sim.2178
Subject(s) - estimator , breast cancer , sensitivity (control systems) , statistics , selection (genetic algorithm) , model selection , computer science , econometrics , breast cancer screening , cancer , mathematics , medicine , machine learning , mammography , electronic engineering , engineering
This study investigates statistical approaches to quantitatively describing the age effect on screening sensitivity and sojourn time distribution in breast cancer screening studies. Such an investigation is directly motivated by the need to understand the inherent relationships between age and these important quantities. We incorporate the age effect through generalized linear models under a progressive disease modelling framework and obtain the corresponding parameter estimators using the maximum likelihood method. Among a set of potential models, we use Akeike's information criterion and likelihood ratio test in model selection and inferences. Extensive simulation studies show that the estimators have reasonable accuracy and the model selection criterion works well. The proposed methods are illustrated using data from two large breast cancer screening trials. The results show that the screening sensitivity increases with age at screening examinations based on these two trials. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.