Online Program

Restricted Mean Time Lost with Competing Risks (309613)

Keywords: survival analysis, competing risks, time-to-event data, restricted mean survival time, restricted mean time lost

Survival data with competing or semi-competing risks are common in observational studies. In this context, one can measure the cause-specific difference in restricted mean times lost (RMTL) between exposure groups over a pre-specified time period. This gives the mean difference between groups in life expectancy lost to a specific cause of death or, in the case of a non-fatal outcome, the mean difference in disease-free time lost. To adjust for covariates, we introduce an inverse probability weighted estimator and its variance for the marginal difference in RMTL. We also introduce an inverse probability of censoring weighted regression model for the RMTL. We illustrate both methods for the classic competing risk and semi-competing risk settings with data from the Framingham Heart Study. In a simulation study, we examine the finite sample performance of the inverse probability weighted estimator for the marginal difference in RMTL under proportional and non-proportional subdistribution hazards.