Postgraduate - UnitEPM5010 - Survival analysis

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2013 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 2, 0.125 EFTSL

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Level	Postgraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
Organisational Unit	Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine
Offered	Alfred Hospital First semester 2013 (Off-campus)
Coordinator(s)	Professor G. Heller

Synopsis

Biostatistical applications of survival analysis with emphasis on underlying theoretical and computational issues, practical interpretation and communication of results. Case studies, students will explore the various methods for handling survival data. Kaplan-Meier curve definition and its extension, survival prospects using logrank test and confidence intervals for relative risks, graphical displays and assessing underlying assumptions. Mantel-Haenszel method's connection to survival analysis. Cox proportional hazards model for handling continuous covariates. Various extensions of this model, including time-dependent covariates, multiple outcomes and censored linear regression model.

Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

understand the major theoretical and computational issues underlying survival analysis;
develop appropriate survival analysis strategies based on unit matter considerations, including choice of models, control for confounding and appropriate parameterisation;
be proficient at using at least two different statistical software packages (eg Strata, Excel) to perform survival analysis;
Understand the construction, use and interpretation of appropriate graphs for showing results and checking statistical assumptions;
express the results of statistical analyses of censored data in language suitable for