A clustering cure rate model with application to a sealant study

ABSTRACT

In this paper, the destructive negative binomial (DNB) cure rate model with a latent activation scheme [V. Cancho, D. Bandyopadhyay, F. Louzada, and B. Yiqi, The DNB cure rate model with a latent activation scheme, Statistical Methodology 13 (2013b), pp. 48–68] is extended to the case where the observations are grouped into clusters. Parameter estimation is performed based on the restricted maximum likelihood approach and on a Bayesian approach based on Dirichlet process priors. An application to a real data set related to a sealant study in a dentistry experiment is considered to illustrate the performance of the proposed model.

KEYWORDS:

• Bivariate random effects
• competing risks
• Dirichlet processes
• EM algorithm
• latent activation scheme
• restricted maximum likelihood

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The first author has been partially supported by FONDECYT (Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Cientíco y Tecnológico) [Grant number 11160670].