TUTORIAL 2 QUESTION

A medical study was carried out between 1 January 2001 and 1 January 2006, to assess the survival
rates of cancer patients. The patients all underwent surgery during 2001 and then attended 3-
monthly check-ups throughout the study.
The following data were collected:
For those patients who died during the study exact dates of death were recorded as
follows:
Patient Date of surgery Date of death
A 1 April 2001 1 August 2005
B 1 April 2001 1 October 2001
C 1 May 2001 1 March 2002
D 1 September 2001 1 August 2003
E 1 October 2001 1 August 2002

For those patients who survived to the end of the study:

Patient Date of surgery
F 1 February 2001
G 1 March 2001
H 1 April 2001
I 1 June 2001
J 1 September 2001
K 1 September 2001
L 1 November 2001

For those patients with whom the hospital lost contact before the end of the investigation:
Patient Date of surgery Date of last check-up
M 1 February 2001 1 August 2003
N 1 June 2001 1 March 2002
O 1 September 2001 1 September 2005

(i) Explain whether and where each of the following types of censoring is present in this
investigation:
(a) type I censoring
(b) interval censoring; and
(c) informative censoring [3]
(ii) Calculate the Kaplan-Meier estimate of the survival function for these patients. State any
assumptions that you make. [7]
(iii) Hence estimate the probability that a patient will die within 4 years of surgery. [1]