HRQoL and Concomitant Adjusted Mean Residual Life Analysis

Abstract

In survival analysis, clinical trials, reliability theory, and in health related quality of life (HRQoL) studies, aging properties of life time distributions play a vital role. Generally, there are multiple auxiliary or explanatory variables, and in HRQoL studies, quality adjusted life (Qal) perspectives are nonignorable. Although the mean remaining life (MRL) function is a basic aging characteristic, when adjusted for Qal and other concomitants, parametric modeling of MRL encounters complications. As such, for Qal is incorporated in MRL analysis, semiparametrics may perform better, though it is yet to be ascertained so. As an alternative approach, matrix valued counting processes for repeated measurement data models, involving clusters of random sizes, are appraised with due consideration of plausible within-cluster nonechangeable dependence patterns as well as Qal adjustments.