Regression analysis of interval-censored failure time data with cured subgroup and mismeasured covariates

Abstract

Failure time data occur in many areas and also in various forms and in particular, many authors have discussed regression analysis of failure time data in the presence of interval censoring, a cured subgroup or mismeasured covariates. However, it does not seem to exist an established procedure that can deal with all three issues together. Corresponding to this, we propose a sieve maximum likelihood estimation procedure that takes into account all three issues with the use of the SIMEX algorithm. The asymptotic properties of the proposed estimators are established, and an extensive simulation study is also conducted and suggests that the proposed method works well for practical situations.

Keywords:

• Interval censoring
• cure rate model
• measurement error
• sieve maximum likelihood estimation
• SIMEX algorithm

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the Editor, the Associate Editor and two reviewers for their very helpful and useful comments and suggestions that greatly improved the article. This work was partly supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of China grant nos. 11671274, the Support Project of High-level Teachers in Beijing Municipal Universities in the Period of 13th Five-year Plan grant CIT & TCD 201804078, the Capacity Building for Sci-Tech Innovation-Fundamental Scientific Research Funds grant 025185305000/204, the Youth Innovative Research Team of Capital Normal University.