title: Multiple imputation methods for estimating regression coefficients in the competing risks model with missing cause of failure.
abstract: We propose a method to estimate the regression coefficients in a competing risks model where the cause-specific hazard for the cause of interest is related to covariates through a proportional hazards relationship and when cause of failure is missing for some individuals. We use multiple imputation procedures to impute missing cause of failure, where the probability that a missing cause is the cause of interest may depend on auxiliary covariates, and combine the maximum partial likelihood estimators computed from several imputed data sets into an estimator that is consistent and asymptotically normal. A consistent estimator for the asymptotic variance is also derived. Simulation results suggest the relevance of the theory in finite samples. Results are also illustrated with data from a breast cancer study.
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh 27695, USA. klu@unity.ncsu.edu
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Tsiatis
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D002423:Cause of Death; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009376:Neoplasms, Hormone-Dependent / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000378:metabolism; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012306:Risk; D017211:Treatment Failure
chemical_list: D011960:Receptors, Estrogen