Survival Analysis
Course information
Class in biostatistics master program, Fall semester 2011
Instructor: Jan Beyersmann, Abteilung Medizinische Biometrie und Statistik, Institut für Medizinische Biometrie und Medizinische Informatik, Universitätsklinikum Freiburg
Time and venue
- Wednesday September 21, 13-16, lecture
- Thursday September 29, 13-15, lecture, 15-17 excercises
- Wednesday October 5, 13-16, lecture
- Wednesday October 12, 13-15, lecture, 15-17 excercises
- Wednesday October 19, 13-16, lecture
- Wednesday October 26, 13-15, lecture, 15-17 excercises
Institute for Social and Preventive Medicine, Division of Biostatistics, Hirschengraben 84, Room F05.
Program
The main topic of the lecture “Survival Analysis” is the analysis of
event time data. Medical examples are survival times of patients or so-
called “disease free” survival. Observation of such data is typically
incomplete. For example, only the minimal survival time is known for
patients who still live at the time of the statistical analysis (right
censoring). The methods of survival analysis are therefore based on the
hazard rate, an instantaneous rate of events.
The common nonparametric methods for the estimation of the cumulative
hazard (Nelson-Aalen), for the comparison of hazard rates (logrank
tests) and for the modeling of the hazard rate depending on explaining
variables (Cox model) will be discussed. The estimators of survival
probabilities (e.g. Kaplan-Meier) are non-random functions of the hazard
estimators. An outlook on the generalisation of the methods to varying
entry times (left truncation) and more complex event structures
(competing risks, multistate models) will be given at the end of the
course.
Prerequisites: Good knowledge of the basic principles of probability theory and statistics, experience with the statistical programming language R.
Literature: J. Klein, M. Moeschberger: Survival Analysis. 2nd Edition. Springer, 2003
Exam
The exam takes place on January 16, 2012, 13:00-15:00 in Y27H25. Allowed support materials are lecture notes and a non-programmable pocket calculator.
Lecture notes, exercises and code
Download page (closed 08/02/2012, contact Eva Furrer if you need a document)