Abstract
In randomized cancer screening trials, mortality rates for the screened group relative to those of the control group are not likely to be constant as a function of years from randomization due to the inherent lag between initiation of screening and any putative effects of screening on mortality. In this situation, a log rank test for differences in mortality between the randomization groups will not be optimal. Although optimality could potentially be recovered by use of a weighted log rank statistic, the optimal weights are difficult to specify a priori and the potential loss of power by use of poorly specified weights is great. We describe a likelihood ratio test with two degrees of freedom for use in this situation which is based on a fit of a weakly structured full model. Computation of an approximate significance level for this test is described and a large sample justification for this approximation is given. Size and power properties of the proposed statistic are compared to that of several other statistics in a small simulation study and the statistic is applied to data from the HIP Breast Cancer Screening Trial.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 44-50 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Biometrics |
| Volume | 51 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1995 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Cancer
- Likelihood ratio
- Screening Trial
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Statistics and Probability
- Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all)
- Immunology and Microbiology(all)
- Agricultural and Biological Sciences(all)
- Applied Mathematics