IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/stapro/v25y1995i2p95-104.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

On nonparametric likelihood ratio estimation of survival probabilities for censored data

Author

Listed:
  • Li, Gang

Abstract

Thomas and Grunkemeier (1975) proposed a nonparametric likelihood ratio method for interval estimation of survival probabilities for randomly censored data. Their method always produces confidence intervals inside [0,1] and has a better performance than the normal approximation method based on the Kaplan-Meier estimate and Greenwood's formula. In this note we show that the likelihood ratio used by Thomas and Grunkemeier (1978) is a "genuine" nonparametric likelihood ratio. That is, it can be derived by considering the parameter space of all survival functions. This property is not shared by many existing empirical likelihood methods. We also note that this result is not a direct consequence of the fact proved by Kaplan and Meier (1958) that the maximum of the likelihood over the space of all survival functions is achieved in the subspace of all discrete survival functions supported on the observed uncensored lifetimes. Another objective of this note is to point out that the likelihood ratio approach can also be used to draw joint inferences on any finite number of probabilities, and test goodness of fit of a given survival function for censored data. A rigorous derivation for the limiting distribution of the likelihood ratio is also provided.

Suggested Citation

  • Li, Gang, 1995. "On nonparametric likelihood ratio estimation of survival probabilities for censored data," Statistics & Probability Letters, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 95-104, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:stapro:v:25:y:1995:i:2:p:95-104
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0167-7152(94)00210-Y
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. R.D. Gill, 1980. "Censoring and Stochastic Integrals," Statistica Neerlandica, Netherlands Society for Statistics and Operations Research, vol. 34(2), pages 124-124, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Stuart Barber & Christopher Jennison, 1999. "Symmetric Tests and Confidence Intervals for Survival Probabilities and Quantiles of Censored Survival Data," Biometrics, The International Biometric Society, vol. 55(2), pages 430-436, June.
    2. Yang, Hanfang & Zhao, Yichuan, 2012. "Smoothed empirical likelihood for ROC curves with censored data," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 254-263.
    3. Junshan Shen & Shuyuan He, 2007. "Empirical likelihood for the difference of quantiles under censorship," Statistical Papers, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 437-457, September.
    4. Shen, Junshan & Yuen, Kam Chuen & Liu, Chunling, 2016. "Empirical likelihood confidence regions for one- or two- samples with doubly censored data," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 285-293.
    5. Einmahl, J.H.J. & McKeague, I.W., 1999. "Confidence tubes for multiple quantile plots via empirical likelihood," Other publications TiSEM b64493f8-1c01-40fd-b16d-7, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    6. Yanqing Sun & Rajeshwari Sundaram & Yichuan Zhao, 2009. "Empirical Likelihood Inference for the Cox Model with Time‐dependent Coefficients via Local Partial Likelihood," Scandinavian Journal of Statistics, Danish Society for Theoretical Statistics;Finnish Statistical Society;Norwegian Statistical Association;Swedish Statistical Association, vol. 36(3), pages 444-462, September.
    7. Pan, Xiao-Rong & Zhou, Mai, 2002. "Empirical Likelihood Ratio in Terms of Cumulative Hazard Function for Censored Data," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 166-188, January.
    8. Zhou, Mai & Li, Gang, 2008. "Empirical likelihood analysis of the Buckley-James estimator," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 99(4), pages 649-664, April.
    9. Zhao, Meng & Zhao, Yichuan & McKeague, Ian W., 2015. "Empirical likelihood inference for the odds ratio of two survival functions under right censoring," Statistics & Probability Letters, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 304-312.
    10. Mai Zhou & Yifan Yang, 2015. "A recursive formula for the Kaplan–Meier estimator with mean constraints and its application to empirical likelihood," Computational Statistics, Springer, vol. 30(4), pages 1097-1109, December.
    11. Nubyra Ahmed & Sundarraman Subramanian, 2016. "Semiparametric simultaneous confidence bands for the difference of survival functions," Lifetime Data Analysis: An International Journal Devoted to Statistical Methods and Applications for Time-to-Event Data, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 504-530, October.
    12. Sundarraman Subramanian, 2020. "Function-based hypothesis testing in censored two-sample location-scale models," Lifetime Data Analysis: An International Journal Devoted to Statistical Methods and Applications for Time-to-Event Data, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 183-213, January.
    13. Li, Gang, 2003. "Nonparametric likelihood ratio goodness-of-fit tests for survival data," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 166-182, July.
    14. Wang, Qihua & Shen, Junshan, 2008. "Estimation and confidence bands of a conditional survival function with censoring indicators missing at random," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 99(5), pages 928-948, May.
    15. Qi-Hua Wang & Bing-Yi Jing, 2001. "Empirical Likelihood for a Class of Functionals of Survival Distribution with Censored Data," Annals of the Institute of Statistical Mathematics, Springer;The Institute of Statistical Mathematics, vol. 53(3), pages 517-527, September.
    16. Bin Dong & David E. Matthews, 2012. "Empirical Likelihood for Cumulative Hazard Ratio Estimation with Covariate Adjustment," Biometrics, The International Biometric Society, vol. 68(2), pages 408-418, June.
    17. McKeague, Ian W. & Zhao, Yichuan, 2006. "Width-scaled confidence bands for survival functions," Statistics & Probability Letters, Elsevier, vol. 76(4), pages 327-339, February.
    18. Subramanian, Sundarraman, 2022. "Simultaneous confidence bands for survival functions from twice censorship," Statistics & Probability Letters, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    19. McKeague, Ian W. & Zhao, Yichuan, 2002. "Simultaneous confidence bands for ratios of survival functions via empirical likelihood," Statistics & Probability Letters, Elsevier, vol. 60(4), pages 405-415, December.
    20. Subramanian, Sundarraman, 2012. "Model-based likelihood ratio confidence intervals for survival functions," Statistics & Probability Letters, Elsevier, vol. 82(3), pages 626-635.
    21. Junshan Shen & Shuyuan He, 2008. "Empirical likelihood confidence intervals for hazard and density functions under right censorship," Annals of the Institute of Statistical Mathematics, Springer;The Institute of Statistical Mathematics, vol. 60(3), pages 575-589, September.
    22. Paul Blanche, 2020. "Confidence intervals for the cumulative incidence function via constrained NPMLE," Lifetime Data Analysis: An International Journal Devoted to Statistical Methods and Applications for Time-to-Event Data, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 45-64, January.
    23. Zhao, Yichuan & Zhao, Meng, 2011. "Empirical likelihood for the contrast of two hazard functions with right censoring," Statistics & Probability Letters, Elsevier, vol. 81(3), pages 392-401, March.
    24. Subramanian, Sundarraman, 2016. "Bootstrap likelihood ratio confidence bands for survival functions under random censorship and its semiparametric extension," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 58-81.
    25. Shen, Junshan & He, Shuyuan, 2006. "Empirical likelihood for the difference of two survival functions under right censorship," Statistics & Probability Letters, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 169-181, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Erica Brittain & Dean Follmann & Song Yang, 2008. "Dynamic Comparison of Kaplan–Meier Proportions: Monitoring a Randomized Clinical Trial with a Long-Term Binary Endpoint," Biometrics, The International Biometric Society, vol. 64(1), pages 189-197, March.
    2. Gang Li & Somnath Datta, 2001. "A Bootstrap Approach to Nonparametric Regression for Right Censored Data," Annals of the Institute of Statistical Mathematics, Springer;The Institute of Statistical Mathematics, vol. 53(4), pages 708-729, December.
    3. Li, Gang & Sun, Yanqing, 2000. "A simulation-based goodness-of-fit test for survival data," Statistics & Probability Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(4), pages 403-410, May.
    4. Sun, Liuquan & Zhou, Yong, 1998. "Sequential confidence bands for densities under truncated and censored data," Statistics & Probability Letters, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 31-41, September.
    5. Yang, Song, 1996. "Weighted empiricals and the product-limit estimator in the multiplicative hazard and time transfer regression model," Statistics & Probability Letters, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 17-24, September.
    6. Su, Pei-Fang & Chi, Yunchan & Li, Chung-I & Shyr, Yu & Liao, Yi-De, 2011. "Analyzing survival curves at a fixed point in time for paired and clustered right-censored data," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 55(4), pages 1617-1628, April.
    7. Thomas DeLeire & Shakeeb Khan & Christopher Timmins, 2013. "Roy Model Sorting And Nonrandom Selection In The Valuation Of A Statistical Life," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 54(1), pages 279-306, February.
    8. Yu-Mei Chang & Chun-Shu Chen & Pao-Sheng Shen, 2012. "A jackknife-based versatile test for two-sample problems with right-censored data," Journal of Applied Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(2), pages 267-277, April.
    9. Adin-Cristian Andrei & Susan Murray, 2004. "Asymptotic Results for Simultaneous Group Sequential Analysis of Rank-Based and Weighted Kaplan-Meier Tests with Paired Survival Data in the Presence of Censoring. Technical report," The University of Michigan Department of Biostatistics Working Paper Series 1042, Berkeley Electronic Press.
    10. Lajmi Lakhal & Louis-Paul Rivest & Belkacem Abdous, 2008. "Estimating Survival and Association in a Semicompeting Risks Model," Biometrics, The International Biometric Society, vol. 64(1), pages 180-188, March.
    11. Dennis Dobler, 2019. "Bootstrapping the Kaplan–Meier estimator on the whole line," Annals of the Institute of Statistical Mathematics, Springer;The Institute of Statistical Mathematics, vol. 71(1), pages 213-246, February.
    12. Seung-Hwan Lee, 2016. "On the estimators and tests for the semiparametric hazards regression model," Lifetime Data Analysis: An International Journal Devoted to Statistical Methods and Applications for Time-to-Event Data, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 531-546, October.
    13. Marc Ditzhaus & Arnold Janssen, 2020. "Bootstrap and permutation rank tests for proportional hazards under right censoring," Lifetime Data Analysis: An International Journal Devoted to Statistical Methods and Applications for Time-to-Event Data, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 493-517, July.
    14. Lin, Cunjie & Zhou, Yong, 2014. "Analyzing right-censored and length-biased data with varying-coefficient transformation model," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 45-63.
    15. Lorenzo, Edgardo & Malla, Ganesh & Mukerjee, Hari, 2013. "Estimation of distributions with the new better than used in expectation property," Statistics & Probability Letters, Elsevier, vol. 83(5), pages 1346-1352.
    16. Lee Seung-Hwan & Lee Eun-Joo, 2014. "A martingale approach to estimating confidence band with censored data," Monte Carlo Methods and Applications, De Gruyter, vol. 20(4), pages 237-243, December.
    17. Yukun Liu & Guosheng Yin, 2017. "Partitioned log-rank tests for the overall homogeneity of hazard rate functions," Lifetime Data Analysis: An International Journal Devoted to Statistical Methods and Applications for Time-to-Event Data, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 400-425, July.
    18. Seung-Hwan Lee, 2010. "Confidence intervals for the regression parameter based on weighted log-rank estimating functions," Computational Statistics, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 429-440, September.
    19. Lu, Xuewen & Burke, M.D., 2005. "Censored multiple regression by the method of average derivatives," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 95(1), pages 182-205, July.
    20. Martin Wells & Ram Tiwari, 1994. "Bootstrapping a Bayes estimator of a survival function with censored data," Annals of the Institute of Statistical Mathematics, Springer;The Institute of Statistical Mathematics, vol. 46(3), pages 487-495, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:stapro:v:25:y:1995:i:2:p:95-104. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/622892/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.