Cancer incidence for Swedish twins studied by means of bivariate frailty models

A bivariate survival model with compound Poisson frailty

A correlated frailty model is suggested for analysis of bivariate time-to-event data. The model is an extension of the correlated power variance function (PVF) frailty model (correlated three-parameter frailty model) (J. Epidemiol. Biostat. 1999; 4:53-60). It is based on a bivariate extension of the compound Poisson frailty model in univariate survival analysis (Ann. Appl. Probab. 1992; 4:951-972). It allows for a non-susceptible fraction (of zero frailty) in the population, overcoming the common assumption in survival analysis that all individuals are susceptible to the event under study. The model contains the correlated gamma frailty model and the correlated inverse Gaussian frailty model as special cases. A maximum likelihood estimation procedure for the parameters is presented and its properties are studied in a small simulation study. This model is applied to breast cancer incidence data of Swedish twins. The proportion of women susceptible to breast cancer is estimated to be 15 per cent.

The Swedish Twin Registry: a unique resource for clinical, epidemiological and genetic studies

The Swedish Twin Registry (STR), which today has developed into a unique resource, was first established in the late 1950s to study the importance of smoking and alcohol consumption on cancer and cardiovascular diseases whilst controlling for genetic propensity to disease. Since that time, the Registry has been expanded and updated on several occasions, and the focus has similarly broadened to most common complex diseases. In the following, we will summarize the content of the database, describe for the first time recent data collection efforts and review some of the principal findings that have come from the Registry.