Abstract
One of the basic parameters in survival analysis is the mean residual life M 0. For right censored observation, the usual empirical likelihood based log-likelihood ratio leads to a scaled \({\chi_1^2}\) limit distribution and estimating the scaled parameter leads to lower coverage of the corresponding confidence interval. To solve the problem, we present a log-likelihood ratio l(M 0) by methods of Murphy and van der Vaart (Ann Stat 1471–1509, 1997). The limit distribution of l(M 0) is the standard \({\chi_1^2}\) distribution. Based on the limit distribution of l(M 0), the corresponding confidence interval of M 0 is constructed. Since the proof of the limit distribution does not offer a computational method for the maximization of the log-likelihood ratio, an EM algorithm is proposed. Simulation studies support the theoretical result.
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Shen, J., Liang, W. & He, S. Likelihood ratio inference for mean residual life. Stat Papers 53, 401–408 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00362-010-0345-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00362-010-0345-2