Revisiting incidence rates comparison under right censorship
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Pablo Martínez-Camblor
and
Susana Díaz-Coto
Abstract
Data description is the first step for understanding the nature of the problem at hand. Usually, it is a simple task that does not require any particular assumption. However, the interpretation of the used descriptive measures can be a source of confusion and misunderstanding. The incidence rate is the quotient between the number of observed events and the sum of time that the studied population was at risk of having this event (person-time). Despite this apparently simple definition, its interpretation is not free of complexity. In this piece of research, we revisit the incidence rate estimator under right-censorship. We analyze the effect that the censoring time distribution can have on the observed results, and its relevance in the comparison of two or more incidence rates. We propose a solution for limiting the impact that the data collection process can have on the results of the hypothesis testing. We explore the finite-sample behavior of the considered estimators from Monte Carlo simulations. Two examples based on synthetic data illustrate the considered problem. The R code and data used are provided as Supplementary Material.
Funding source: Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
Award Identifier / Grant number: PID2020-118101 GB-100
Funding source: Asturies Government
Award Identifier / Grant number: GRUPIN AYUD/2021/50897
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Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility forthe entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.
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Research funding: This work was supported from the Grants GRUPINAYUD/2021/50897 from the Asturies Government and PID2020 - 118101GB -I00 from Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Spanish Government).
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Conflict of interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding this article.
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Data availability: The authors confirm that no new data were created oranalysed in this study. The data represented in this review article are from the journals listed in the references.
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Supplementary Material
This article contains supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/ijb-2023-0025).
© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
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