title: Estimating time to pregnancy from current durations in a cross-sectional sample.
abstract: A new design for estimating the distribution of time to pregnancy is proposed and investigated. The design is based on recording current durations in a cross-sectional sample of women, leading to statistical problems similar to estimating renewal time distributions from backward recurrence times. Non-parametric estimation is studied in some detail and a parametric approach is indicated. The results are illustrated on Monte Carlo simulations and on data from a recent European collaborative study. The role and applicability of this approach is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 3, DK-2200, Copenhagen N, Denmark. N.Keiding@biostat.ku.dk
authors.forename: Niels
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Keiding
authors.forename: Kajsa
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kvist
authors.forename: Helle
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hartvig
authors.forename: Mads
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tvede
authors.forename: Svend
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Juul