Clustered longitudinal data subject to irregular observation

Data collected longitudinally as part of usual health care is becoming increasingly available for research, and is often available across several centres. Because the frequency of follow-up is typically determined by the patient’s health, the timing of measurements may be related to the outcome of i...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Statistical methods in medical research 2021-04, Vol.30 (4), p.1081-1100
Main Authors: Pullenayegum, Eleanor M, Birken, Catherine, Maguire, Jonathon
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air quality
Bias
Clustering
Health care
Parametric statistics
Random effects
Simulation
Stratification
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Data collected longitudinally as part of usual health care is becoming increasingly available for research, and is often available across several centres. Because the frequency of follow-up is typically determined by the patient’s health, the timing of measurements may be related to the outcome of interest. Failure to account for the informative nature of the observation process can result in biased inferences. While methods for accounting for the association between observation frequency and outcome are available, they do not currently account for clustering within centres. We formulate a semi-parametric joint model to include random effects for centres as well as subjects. We also show how inverse-intensity weighted GEEs can be adapted to account for clustering, comparing stratification, frailty models, and covariate adjustment to account for clustering in the observation process. The finite-sample performance of the proposed methods is evaluated through simulation and the methods illustrated using a study of the relationship between outdoor play and air quality in children aged 2–9 living in the Greater Toronto Area.
ISSN:0962-2802
1477-0334
DOI:10.1177/0962280220986193