Partially linear censored regression models using heavy-tailed distributions: A Bayesian approach

Bayesian semiparametric modeling for HIV longitudinal data with censoring and skewness

In biomedical studies, the analysis of longitudinal data based on Gaussian assumptions is common practice. Nevertheless, more often than not, the observed responses are naturally skewed, rendering the use of symmetric mixed effects models inadequate. In addition, it is also common in clinical assays that the patient's responses are subject to some upper and/or lower quantification limit, depending on the diagnostic assays used for their detection. Furthermore, responses may also often present a nonlinear relation with some covariates, such as time. To address the aforementioned three issues, we consider a Bayesian semiparametric longitudinal censored model based on a combination of splines, wavelets, and the skew-normal distribution. Specifically, we focus on the use of splines to approximate the general mean, wavelets for modeling the individual subject trajectories, and on the skew-normal distribution for modeling the random effects. The newly developed method is illustrated through simulated data and real data concerning AIDS/HIV viral loads.

Censored linear regression models for irregularly observed longitudinal data using the multivariate- t distribution

In acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) studies it is quite common to observe viral load measurements collected irregularly over time. Moreover, these measurements can be subjected to some upper and/or lower detection limits depending on the quantification assays. A complication arises when these continuous repeated measures have a heavy-tailed behavior. For such data structures, we propose a robust structure for a censored linear model based on the multivariate Student's t-distribution. To compensate for the autocorrelation existing among irregularly observed measures, a damped exponential correlation structure is employed. An efficient expectation maximization type algorithm is developed for computing the maximum likelihood estimates, obtaining as a by-product the standard errors of the fixed effects and the log-likelihood function. The proposed algorithm uses closed-form expressions at the E-step that rely on formulas for the mean and variance of a truncated multivariate Student's t-distribution. The methodology is illustrated through an application to an Human Immunodeficiency Virus-AIDS (HIV-AIDS) study and several simulation studies.