On 2/23/2010 3:37 PM, Philipp Rappold wrote:
I have one more conceptual question though, it would be fantastic if
someone could graciously help out:

I am using an accelerated failure time model with time-varying
covariates because I assume that my independent variables have a
different impact on the chance for a failure at different points in
lifetime. For example: High temperature has a different impact on
failure in earlier years than in later years (for whatever reason). So
far so good (hopefully).

well, if by 'chance for a failure' you mean the hazard, then you could first graphically test that indeed you have a time-varying effect. This you can do by first fitting a Cox model assuming time-independent effect for temperature, and then use (transformations) of the scaled Schoenfeld residuals that are implemented in cox.zph().

Note, that unless you're using the Weibull model (and its special the exponential), then any other standard choice for a parametric AFT model does not assume PH.

Now, if you need to go to time-varying effects, then you can do that under both AFT and PH models. In the former including time-dependent covariates is a bit more tricky you can find more information, e.g., in Section 5.2 of Cox & Oakes (1984), Analysis of Survival Data, Chapman & Hall. For the latter it is a bit more easier and you can have a look in standard texts for survival analysis, e.g., Therneau & Grambsch (2000). Modeling Survival Data: Extending the Cox Model, Springer.


I hope it helps.

Best,
Dimitris

But: From my regression I only get one coefficient for each independent
variable and I am wondering how this "one" variable reflects the above
mentioned time-dependent impact of my variable. Shouldn't I be getting a
coefficient for each year of lifetime, which tells me exactly what
impact a variable has in a given year?

I'm pretty sure I am totally mixing things up here, but I really
couldn't find any helpful information, so any help is highly appreciated!!

Thank you very much!
Best
Philipp

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--
Dimitris Rizopoulos
Assistant Professor
Department of Biostatistics
Erasmus University Medical Center

Address: PO Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, the Netherlands
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