Quantifying the association between progression-free survival and overall survival in oncology trials using Kendall's τ.

ABSTRACT: This paper considers methods for estimating the association between progression-free and overall survival in oncology trials. Copula-based, nonparametric, and illness-death model-based methods are reviewed. In addition, the approach based on an underlying illness-death model is generalized to allow general parametric models. The performance of these methods, in terms of bias and efficiency, is investigated through simulation and also illustrated using data from a clinical trial of treatments for colon cancer. The simulations suggest that the illness-death model-based method provides good estimates of Kendall's τ across several scenarios. In some situations, copula-based methods perform well but their performance is sensitive to the choice of copula. The Clayton copula is most appropriate i

SUBMITTER: Weber EM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6585767 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature