Date of Award
12-2007
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Department
Statistics
First Advisor
Dr. Joshua D. Naranjo
Second Advisor
Dr. Michael R. Stoline
Third Advisor
Dr. Magdalena Niewiadomska-Bugaj
Fourth Advisor
Dr. Douglas N. Homnick
Abstract
Two commonly used tests for comparison of survival curves are the generalized Wilcoxon procedure of Gehan (1965) and Breslow (1970) and the Log-rank test proposed by Mantel (1966) and Cox (1972). In applications, the Log-rank test is used after checking for validity of the proportional hazards (PH) assumption, with Wilcoxon being the fallback method when the PH assumption fails.
However, the relative performance of the two procedures depend not just on the PH assumption but also on the pattern of differences between the two curves. We will show that the crucial factor is whether the differences tend to occur early or late in time. We propose diagnostics to measure early-or-late differences between two survival curves. A pretest based on either diagnostic will help the user choose the more efficient test under various patterns of treatment differences.
Access Setting
Dissertation-Open Access
Recommended Citation
Custodio Martinez, Ruvie Lou Maria, "Diagnostics for Choosing between Log-Rank and Wilcoxon Tests" (2007). Dissertations. 895.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations/895