Flexible modeling of survival data with covariates subject to detection limits via multiple imputation

Paul W. Bernhardt, Huixia Judy Wang and Daowen Zhang

Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, 2014, vol. 69, issue C, 81-91

Abstract: Models for survival data generally assume that covariates are fully observed. However, in medical studies it is not uncommon for biomarkers to be censored at known detection limits. A computationally-efficient multiple imputation procedure for modeling survival data with covariates subject to detection limits is proposed. This procedure is developed in the context of an accelerated failure time model with a flexible seminonparametric error distribution. The consistency and asymptotic normality of the multiple imputation estimator are established and a consistent variance estimator is provided. An iterative version of the proposed multiple imputation algorithm that approximates the EM algorithm for maximum likelihood is also suggested. Simulation studies demonstrate that the proposed multiple imputation methods work well while alternative methods lead to estimates that are either biased or more variable. The proposed methods are applied to analyze the dataset from a recently-conducted GenIMS study.

Keywords: Accelerated failure time model; Censored predictor; Complete case; Detection limit; Multiple imputation; Seminonparametric distribution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:csdana:v:69:y:2014:i:c:p:81-91

DOI: 10.1016/j.csda.2013.07.027

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