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Every achievement originates from the seed of determination. Survival Analysis. Nonparametric Methods for Comparing Survival Distributions. Abbreviated Outline. How to formally compare 2 or more survival distributions using hypothesis tests
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Every achievement originates from the seed of determination.
Survival Analysis Nonparametric Methods for Comparing Survival Distributions
Abbreviated Outline • How to formally compare 2 or more survival distributions using hypothesis tests • These tests look at weighted differences between the observed and expected hazard rates, allowing us to put more emphasis on certain parts of the curves
Test Statistics Reject Ho if U is too large.
Log-rank Test • Constant weight function: Treat all observed failure times equally. • It has optimum power to detect alternatives where the hazard rates in the M populations are proportional to each other
Proportional Hazard Assumption • An underline assumption of many methods • Suppose there are 2 groups of survival data. Then h1(u)=c*h2(u) where hi(u) is the hazard function of group i and c is a constant
Wilcoxon Test • Survival time t(j) is weighted by nj, the number of individuals at risk at time t(j). • This test is less sensitive than the log-rank test to deviation of the observed to the expected in the tail of the distribution of survival times.
Example: 6-MP • To compare the survival distributions of the placebo group and the 6-MP group using the log-rank test Test of Equality over Strata Pr > Test Chi-Square DF Chi-Square Log-Rank 16.7929 1 <.0001 Wilcoxon 13.4579 1 0.0002 -2Log(LR) 16.4852 1 <.0001
Stratified Tests • Previously, we assumed that the various groups of individuals under comparison are homogeneous with respect to other factors which may affect survival time • One way of detecting differences in survival between groups, while accounting for the effects of other factors is to stratify.
Stratified Tests • When the number of strata is large, a test typically has low power to detect treatment differences.
Stratified Tests • Hypothesis:
Example: 6-MP • The patients are stratified according to remission status (partial or complete). • Consider a test of Ho of no treatment effect, adjusting for the patient’s remission status. • The stratified log-rank test (chisq=17.9 and p-value = 2.28x10^-5) indicates that the distribution of survival times is significantly different between 6-MP and placebo groups.