R help - May 2005 - lmer error:flist must be a non-empty list

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone could give me advice regarding using the lmer
command in lme4 package to do logistic regression (mixed effects model).

I use the following command
lmer(ISH ~ArrayPathology2, random=~1|PatientID, data=HSDB4.noNA,
family="binomial")

where ISH is outcome(0 or 1), ArrayPathology2 is the variable of
interest(factor), PatientID is random effect(factor), and HSDB4.noNA is the
complete dataframe (column names ArrayPathology2, Patient ID and ISH etc)

There are no NAs in the data.

I get the following error regardless of the R version (2.0.1, 2.1.0, or
2.1.0devel)
> lmer(ISH ~ArrayPathology2, random=~1|PatientID, data=HSDB4.noNA,
family="binomial")
Error in lmer(ISH ~ ArrayPathology2, random = ~1 | PatientID, data HSDB4.noNA, 
:
        flist must be a non-empty list

Below is the sessionInfo() for R version 2.1.0

R version 2.1.0, 2005-04-18, i386-pc-mingw32

attached base packages:
[1] "methods"   "stats"     "graphics" 
"grDevices" "utils"     "datasets"
[7] "base"

other attached packages:
        lme4 latticeExtra      lattice       Matrix
    "0.95-6"      "0.1-3"     "0.11-6"    
"0.95-7"

I got the same error if I used the older version of lme4  "0.95-1"
which was
mentioned in a mail to this list serve on 11th April 2005

I am using Microsoft Windows XP Professional Version 2002.

I would really appreciate any advice!!

Thanks so much

Dr Margaret Gardiner-Garden
Garvan Institute of Medical Research
Sydney Australia

Hi Margaret,

if you look at the help page of lmer() you'll see that there is no 
'random' argument (as there is in lme() in the nlme package). The way 
to specify random-effects structure in lmer() is through the 'formula' 
argument. So in your case try this:

lmer(ISH ~ ArrayPathology2 + (1|PatientID), data=HSDB4.noNA, 
family="binomial")

I hope it helps.

Best,
Dimitris

----
Dimitris Rizopoulos
Ph.D. Student
Biostatistical Centre
School of Public Health
Catholic University of Leuven

Address: Kapucijnenvoer 35, Leuven, Belgium
Tel: +32/16/336899
Fax: +32/16/337015
Web: http://www.med.kuleuven.ac.be/biostat/
     http://www.student.kuleuven.ac.be/~m0390867/dimitris.htm



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Margaret Gardiner-Garden" <m.gardiner-garden at
garvan.org.au>
To: <r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch>
Sent: Wednesday, May 04, 2005 9:38 AM
Subject: [R] lmer error:flist must be a non-empty list

> Hi,
>
> I was wondering if anyone could give me advice regarding using the 
> lmer
> command in lme4 package to do logistic regression (mixed effects 
> model).
>
> I use the following command
> lmer(ISH ~ArrayPathology2, random=~1|PatientID, data=HSDB4.noNA,
> family="binomial")
>
> where ISH is outcome(0 or 1), ArrayPathology2 is the variable of
> interest(factor), PatientID is random effect(factor), and HSDB4.noNA 
> is the
> complete dataframe (column names ArrayPathology2, Patient ID and ISH 
> etc)
>
> There are no NAs in the data.
>
> I get the following error regardless of the R version (2.0.1, 2.1.0, 
> or
> 2.1.0devel)
>
>> lmer(ISH ~ArrayPathology2, random=~1|PatientID, data=HSDB4.noNA,
> family="binomial")
> Error in lmer(ISH ~ ArrayPathology2, random = ~1 | PatientID, data >
HSDB4.noNA,  :
>        flist must be a non-empty list
>
> Below is the sessionInfo() for R version 2.1.0
>
> R version 2.1.0, 2005-04-18, i386-pc-mingw32
>
> attached base packages:
> [1] "methods"   "stats"     "graphics" 
"grDevices" "utils"
> "datasets"
> [7] "base"
>
> other attached packages:
>        lme4 latticeExtra      lattice       Matrix
>    "0.95-6"      "0.1-3"     "0.11-6"    
"0.95-7"
>
> I got the same error if I used the older version of lme4 
"0.95-1"
> which was
> mentioned in a mail to this list serve on 11th April 2005
>
> I am using Microsoft Windows XP Professional Version 2002.
>
> I would really appreciate any advice!!
>
> Thanks so much
>
> Dr Margaret Gardiner-Garden
> Garvan Institute of Medical Research
> Sydney Australia
>
> ______________________________________________
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