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Remission duration: An example of interval‐censored observations
Author(s) -
Rücker Gerta,
Messerer Dorle
Publication year - 1988
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.4780071106
Subject(s) - censoring (clinical trials) , estimator , statistics , survival analysis , observational study , interval estimation , confidence interval , medicine , mathematics
Remission duration data from two observational studies, the German ALL/AUL study on acute lymphoblastic and acute undifferentiated leukaemia and the Kiel Lymphoma Study, are used to demonstrate the adequacy of an interval‐censoring approach. The Turnbull estimator is contrasted with the conventionally used Kaplan—Meier estimator. In addition, a parametric model is used for estimation or simulation of the delay times of complete remission diagnosis and relapse diagnosis. Two possible consequences of the conventional approach are discussed: biased estimation (for example, overestimation of remission duration), and underestimation of the true error variance, which may lead to false positive results. On the other hand, the applicability of the interval‐censoring approach is doubtful when the censoring mechanism (examination pattern, patient's behaviour) is confounded with the endpoints.