Abstract
In this work, we consider the parametric estimation of quality adjusted lifetime (QAL) distribution for two general illness-death models, namely, competing illness-death model and reversible illness-death model. The first model is progressive and involves multiple states, while the second one incorporates possibility of recovery. The main focus of this paper is to derive the theoretical distribution of QAL for the two illness-death models, under some parametric models for the sojourn time distributions in different states. The QAL distribution is then estimated by replacing the parameters in its theoretical expression by the corresponding estimates obtained by using standard survival analysis techniques. The performance of the estimator is investigated through a simulation study.
AMS (2000) Subject Classification : 62N02
Keywords
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