Modelling Survival Data in Medical Research

In the course of medical research, data on the time to the occurrence of a partic­ of a patient, are frequently encountered. Such data ular event, such as the death are generically referred to as survival data. However, the event of interest need not necessarily be death, but could, for example, be the end of aperiod spent in remission from a disease, relief from symptoms, or the recurrence of a particular condition. Although there are a number of books devoted to the analysis of sur­ vival data, this book is designed to meet the need for an intermediate text which emphasises the application of the methodology to survival data arising from med­ ical studies, which shows how widely-available computer software can be used in survival analysis, and which will appeal to statisticians engaged in medical re­ search. This book is based on a course on the analysis of survival data from clinical trials which has been given annually by the Statistical Services Centre ofthe Department of Applied Statistics, University of Reading, since 1986. Although it is written primarily for those working as statisticians in the pharmaceutical industry and in medical research institutes, much of the text should be accessible to numerate scientists and clinicians working alongside statisticians on the analysis of their own data sets. This book could also be used as a text to accompany undergraduate and postgraduate courses on survival analysis in universities and other institutes of higher education.

Collett has succeeded admirably in updating the first edition of his book ... [This book] has numerous, carefully worked, real-data examples. There is enough new material in the second edition to justify its purchase by someone who already owns the first edition.
―Journal of the American Statistical Association, Sept. 2004, Vol. 99, No. 467

this text is a fine example of technical writing and remains highly recommended for both students and researchers requiring an introduction to survival analysis in a medical context.
―Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Issue 167 (4)

... a well written practical guide with a demonstration of SAS software to perform survival analysis. ... It can be used as a textbook in a graduate-level survival analysis course ... .
―Journal of Statistical Computation & Simulation, Vol. 74, No. 5, May 2004

It is thorough and authoritative, covers all essential theory and contains many practical tips.
―Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Vol. 157

Praise for the First Edition:
... a useful book that has particular merit for the applied statistician. Chapters 1-6 and 11 alone supply a wonderful introduction to survival analysis. The mathematical statistician unfamiliar with survival analysis who desires to become quickly abreast will also gain much from the book.
―Journal of the American Statistical Association

Students found the presentation of the material and examples to be very helpful ... an excellent book ... I highly recommend this book for practising statisticians engaged in analysing univariate survival data. ... This book will not only serve the statistical practitioner in the medical and pharmaceutical research areas well, but will be a convenient text for the lecturer aiming to include a useful applied component into a post-graduate statistics or operational research degree course.
―Journal of the Royal Statistical Society

The book would be a popular text for courses and a well-thumbed addition to any medical statistician’s collection. It is sufficiently general to be of interest to industrial statisticians concerned with lifetime testing but the focus is clearly on survival of patients under treatment.
―The Statistician