Joint modelling of longitudinal HRQoL data accounting for the risk of competing dropouts

Hortense Doms, Philippe Lambert and Catherine Legrand
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Hortense Doms: Université catholique de Louvain, LIDAM/ISBA, Belgium
Philippe Lambert: Université catholique de Louvain, LIDAM/ISBA, Belgium
Catherine Legrand: Université catholique de Louvain, LIDAM/ISBA, Belgium

No 2026018, LIDAM Reprints ISBA from Université catholique de Louvain, Institute of Statistics, Biostatistics and Actuarial Sciences (ISBA)

Abstract: In cancer clinical trials, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is an important endpoint, providing information about patients’ well-being and daily functioning. However, missing data due to premature dropout can lead to biased estimates, especially when dropouts are informative. This paper introduces the JMIRT approach, a novel tool that efficiently analyses multiple longitudinal ordinal categorical data while addressing informative dropout. Within a joint modelling framework, this approach connects a latent variable, derived from HRQoL data, to cause-specific hazards of dropout. Unlike traditional joint models, which treat longitudinal data as a covariate in the survival submodel, our approach prioritizes the longitudinal data and incorporates the log dropout risks as covariates in the latent process. This leads to a more accurate analysis of longitudinal data, accounting for potential effects of dropout risks. Through extensive simulation studies, we demonstrate that JMIRT provides robust and unbiased parameter estimates and highlight the importance of accounting for informative dropout. We also apply this methodology to HRQoL data from patients with progressive glioblastoma, showcasing its practical utility.

Keywords: Bayesian joint models; Informative dropout; Item response theory; Quality of life (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 22
Date: 2026-07-08
Note: In: Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series C: Applied Statistics, 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aiz:louvar:2026018

DOI: 10.1093/jrsssc/qlag036

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