On Thu, 16 Mar 2000, Ramon Diaz-Uriarte wrote:
>
> Is it appropriate to use stepAIC (library MASS) with coxph objects (from
> library survival5) that use "cluster(id)"?
>
> It is my understanding that, when using "cluster(id)", we can
test for sets of
> terms by using the methods in Wei et al., (1989; JASA, 84: 1065-1073), or
as
> explained in pp. 53 and ff. of the survival.ps document. But if we use a
> likelihood ratio test instead (comparing sets of nested models), we can get
> different results.
>
> I started wondering, then, if using AIC, per se, could give misleading
> results. Am I getting confused here?
It's not completely clear to me whether AIC is useful for an ordinary Cox
model using the partial likelihood (though I presume _someone_ has studied
the properties of this method).
For a model using cluster(id) it certainly isn't appropriate. These
models do not have even a partial likelihood. Likelihood ratio tests are
not possible, and AIC is not well-defined.
Stepwise selection would have to be based on the distribution of the
parameter estimates and the sandwich estimator of its covariance
-thomas
Thomas Lumley
Assistant Professor, Biostatistics
University of Washington, Seattle
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