Interpretability and importance of functionals in competing risks and multistate models

TY - JOUR

T1 - Interpretability and importance of functionals in competing risks and multistate models

AU - Andersen, Per Kragh

AU - Keiding, Niels

PY - 2012/5

Y1 - 2012/5

N2 - The basic parameters in both survival analysis and more general multistate models, including the competing risks model and the illness-death model, are the transition hazards. It is often necessary to supplement the analysis of such models with other model parameters, which are all functionals of the transition hazards. Unfortunately, not all such functionals are equally meaningful in practical contexts, even though they may be mathematically well defined. We have found it useful to check whether the functionals satisfy three simple principles, which may be used as criteria for practical interpretability.

AB - The basic parameters in both survival analysis and more general multistate models, including the competing risks model and the illness-death model, are the transition hazards. It is often necessary to supplement the analysis of such models with other model parameters, which are all functionals of the transition hazards. Unfortunately, not all such functionals are equally meaningful in practical contexts, even though they may be mathematically well defined. We have found it useful to check whether the functionals satisfy three simple principles, which may be used as criteria for practical interpretability.

U2 - 10.1002/sim.4385

DO - 10.1002/sim.4385

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 22081496

SN - 0277-6715

VL - 31

SP - 1074

EP - 1088

JO - Statistics in Medicine

JF - Statistics in Medicine

ER -