Simulation of Subgroup Analysis Methods with Longitudinal Data Containing Measurement Errors and Missingness / 中国卫生统计

ABSTRACT

Objective To develop a subgroup analysis method that can simultaneously deal with longitudinal data containing measurement errors and dropouts.Methods Subgroup analysis was carried out based on a threshold regression model.A new generalized unbiased estimation equation is constructed by using the independence between repeated measurements to deal with measurement errors and introducing an inverse probability weighting matrix to deal with missing response.Results The computer stochastic simulation shows that the proposed estimation method is effective in dealing with measurement errors and dropouts,and has smaller bias and mean square error than the generalized estimation equation method without correcting measurement errors or dropouts.Conclusion In subgroup analysis,when there are measurement errors in covariables and missing values in response variables,it is usually necessary to deal with the measurement errors and missing values in order to obtain reliable parameter estimation.