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A Simple Local Sensitivity Analysis Tool for Nonignorable Coarsening: Application to Dependent Censoring
Author(s) -
Zhang Jiameng,
Heitjan Daniel F.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
biometrics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.298
H-Index - 130
eISSN - 1541-0420
pISSN - 0006-341X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1541-0420.2006.00580.x
Subject(s) - censoring (clinical trials) , sensitivity (control systems) , statistics , simple (philosophy) , interval (graph theory) , confidence interval , missing data , computer science , econometrics , mathematics , philosophy , epistemology , combinatorics , electronic engineering , engineering
Summary Right‐ and interval‐censored data are common special cases of coarsened data (Heitjan and Rubin, 1991, Annals of Statistics 19, 2244–2253). As with missing data, standard statistical methods that ignore the random nature of the coarsening mechanism may lead to incorrect inferences. We extend a simple sensitivity analysis tool, the index of local sensitivity to nonignorability (Troxel, Ma, and Heitjan, 2004, Statistica Sinica 14, 1221–1237), to the evaluation of nonignorability of the coarsening process in the general coarse‐data model. By converting this index into a simple graphical display one can easily assess the sensitivity of key inferences to nonignorable coarsening. We illustrate the validity of the method with a simulated example, and apply it to right‐censored data from an observational study of cardiac transplantation and to interval‐censored data on time to detectable viral load from a clinical trial in HIV disease.