Regression analysis in an illness-death model with interval-censored data: A pseudo-value approach

• Published in: Statistical methods in medical research Vol. 29; no. 3; p. 752
• Main Authors: Sabathé, Camille, Andersen, Per K, Helmer, Catherine, Gerds, Thomas A, Jacqmin-Gadda, Hélène, Joly, Pierre
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 01.03.2020
• Subjects: absolute risk; probability of staying alive and non-demented; interval-censoring; restricted mean survival time without dementia; penalised likelihood; Pseudo-values
• ISSN: 1477-0334
• DOI: 10.1177/0962280219842271

Pseudo-values provide a method to perform regression analysis for complex quantities with right-censored data. A further complication, interval-censored data, appears when events such as dementia are studied in an epidemiological cohort. We propose an extension of the pseudo-value approach for interval-censored data based on a semi-parametric estimator computed using penalised likelihood and splines. This estimator takes interval-censoring and competing risks into account in an illness-death model. We apply the pseudo-value approach to three mean value parameters of interest in studies of dementia: the probability of staying alive and non-demented, the restricted mean survival time without dementia and the absolute risk of dementia. Simulation studies are conducted to examine properties of pseudo-values based on this semi-parametric estimator. The method is applied to the French cohort PAQUID, which included more than 3,000 non-demented subjects, followed for dementia for more than 25 years.