A pathway EM-algorithm for estimating vaccine efficacy with a non-monotone validation set.

ABSTRACT: Here, we consider time-to-event data where individuals can experience two or more types of events that are not distinguishable from one another without further confirmation, perhaps by laboratory test. The event type of primary interest can occur only once. The other types of events can recur. If the type of a portion of the events is identified, this forms a validation set. However, even if a random sample of events are tested, confirmations can be missing nonmonotonically, creating uncertainty about whether an individual is still at risk for the event of interest. For example, in a study to estimate efficacy of an influenza vaccine, an individual may experience a sequence of symptomatic respiratory illnesses caused by various pathogens over the season. Often only a limited number of thes

SUBMITTER: Yang Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4209209 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature