A general semiparametric hazards regression model: efficient estimation and structure selection

Exposure assessment for Cox proportional hazards cure models with interval-censored survival data

Mixture cure models have been developed as an effective tool to analyze failure time data with a cure fraction. Used in conjunction with the logistic regression model, this model allows covariate-adjusted inference of an exposure effect on the cured probability and the hazard of failure for the uncured subjects. However, the covariate-adjusted inference for the overall exposure effect is not directly provided. In this paper, we describe a Cox proportional hazards cure model to analyze interval-censored survival data in the presence of a cured fraction and then apply a post-estimation approach by using model-predicted estimates difference to assess the overall exposure effect on the restricted mean survival time scale. For baseline hazard/survival function estimation, simple parametric models as fractional polynomials or restricted cubic splines are utilized to approximate the baseline logarithm cumulative hazard function, or, alternatively, the full likelihood is specified through a piecewise linear approximation for the cumulative baseline hazard function. Simulation studies were conducted to demonstrate the unbiasedness of both estimation methods for the overall exposure effect estimates over various baseline hazard distribution shapes. The methods are applied to analyze the interval-censored relapse time data from a smoking cessation study.

Spatial extended hazard model with application to prostate cancer survival

This article develops a Bayesian semiparametric approach to the extended hazard model, with generalization to high-dimensional spatially grouped data. County-level spatial correlation is accommodated marginally through the normal transformation model of Li and Lin (2006, Journal of the American Statistical Association 101, 591-603), using a correlation structure implied by an intrinsic conditionally autoregressive prior. Efficient Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms are developed, especially applicable to fitting very large, highly censored areal survival data sets. Per-variable tests for proportional hazards, accelerated failure time, and accelerated hazards are efficiently carried out with and without spatial correlation through Bayes factors. The resulting reduced, interpretable spatial models can fit significantly better than a standard additive Cox model with spatial frailties.