title: Interval-censored survival time data: confidence intervals for the non-parametric survivor function.
abstract: Survival data are described as interval censored when the failure time is not measured exactly but is known only to have occurred within a defined interval. In this paper, we describe and assess three methods for calculating pointwise confidence intervals for the non-parametric survivor function estimated from interval-censored data: the first based on the full information matrix, the second a modification of this approach involving deletion of rows and columns of the information matrix corresponding to zero estimates prior to inversion and the third based on likelihood ratio inference. In a simulation study the likelihood ratio method gave the most accurate confidence intervals with coverage consistently close to the nominal level of 95 per cent.
authors.affiliation: MRC Clinical Trials Unit, London, UK. r.goodall@ctu.mrc.ac.uk
authors.forename: Ruth L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Goodall
authors.forename: David T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Dunn
authors.forename: Abdel G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Babiker
mesh_terms: D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003198:Computer Simulation; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D016049:Didanosine / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy; D006801:Humans; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015215:Zidovudine / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D012367:RNA, Viral; D015215:Zidovudine; D016049:Didanosine