A study of survival and medical cost data with application to automatic implantable cardiac defibrillator data.

摘要

Medical treatments for various diseases have been rapidly developing in recent decades. As well, expenditures related to medical treatments have been rising dramatically. Statistical research has become of great interest to estimate the probability of survival and cost of medical treatments. A set of data were provided to estimate the probability of survival and related costs in a Multicenter Automatic Defibrillator Implantation Trial. Several models, including longitudinal, survival and joint models, are applied to the data and the estimated parameters are provided. The best model is selected among those proposed. The costs and survival rates are estimated based on the best selected model. The results will be of interest to government agencies, insurance companies and patients.