Analysis of incidence of competting risks and application of copula models

This thesis first introduces the basic notions of univariate survival analysis. Then the survival analysis setting is extended to competing risk models, i.e. the cases considering several events of interest or several causes of one event. In the competing risk model, we discuss the problem of identification, which means that it is not possible to identify marginal distributions from observed competing risk data. Next, we present copula models, which are a suitable mathematical tool for modelling dependence structure between random variables. We explain their basic characteristics, present some useful copula families and the relationship of copula parameters with certain dependence (correlation) measures. Further, we show the utilization of copulas within competing risks models and how they can be helpful in the solution of identifiability problem. Finally, we apply the listed theoretical knowledge in a simulated example. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org