On the analysis of hybrid designs that combine group- and individual-level data.

ABSTRACT: Ecological studies that make use of data on groups of individuals, rather than on the individuals themselves, are subject to numerous biases that cannot be resolved without some individual-level data. In the context of a rare outcome, the hybrid design for ecological inference efficiently combines group-level data with individual-level case-control data. Unfortunately, except in relatively simple settings, use of the design in practice is limited since evaluation of the hybrid likelihood is computationally prohibitively expensive. In this article we first propose and develop an alternative representation of the hybrid likelihood. Second, based on this new representation, a series of approximations are proposed that drastically reduce computational burden. A comprehensive simulation shows t

SUBMITTER: Smoot E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4445683 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature