Work

A Bayesian model for misclassified binary outcomes and correlated survival data with applications to breast cancer

Year: 2012

Type: article

Abstract: Breast cancer patients may experience ipsilateral breast tumor relapse (IBTR) after breast conservation therapy. IBTR is classified as either true local recurrence or new ipsilateral primary tumor. The correct classification of IBTR status has significant implications in therapeutic decision-making and patient management. However, the diagnostic tests to classify IBTR are imperfect and prone to misclassification. In addition, some observed survival data (e.g., time to relapse, time from relapse to death) are strongly correlated with IBTR status. We present a Bayesian approach to model the potentially misclassified IBTR status and the correlated survival information. We conduct the inference using a Bayesian framework via Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation implemented in WinBUGS. Extensive simulation shows that the proposed method corrects biases and provides more efficient estimates for the covariate effects on the probability of IBTR and the diagnostic test accuracy. Moreover, our method provides useful subject-specific patient prognostic information. Our method is motivated by, and applied to, a dataset of 397 breast cancer patients.

Source: Statistics in Medicine

DOI: 10.1002/sim.5629

Authors: Sheng Luo, Min Yi, Xuelin Huang, Kelly K. Hunt

Institution: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Language: English

Topic: Statistical Methods and Bayesian Inference

Subfield: Statistics and Probability

Field: Mathematics

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke