Recurrent Events Data Analysis for Product Repairs, Disease Recurrences, and Other Applications (ASA-SIAM Series on Statistics and Applied Probability, Series Number 10)

Survival data consist of a single event for each population unit, namely, end of life, which is modeled with a life distribution. In contrast, many applications involve repeated-events data, where a unit may accumulate any number of events over time. Examples include the number and cost of repairs of products, the number and treatment costs of recurrent disease episodes in patients, and the number of childbirths to statisticians. This applied book provides practitioners with basic nonparametric methods for such data, particularly the plot of the estimate of the population mean cumulative function (MCF), which yields most of the information sought. Recurrent Events Data Analysis for Product Repairs, Disease Recurrences, and Other Applications is the first book to present a simple, unified theory that includes data on costs or other 'values' of discrete events, not just the number of events.

Wayne B. Nelson is a leading expert on reliability data analysis and statistical methods for accelerated testing. He privately consults throughout industry on diverse engineering and scientific applications of statistics. He develops and presents statistical courses for companies, universities, and professional societies. Dr. Nelson also works as an expert witness. He is the author of two other books and more than 120 publications on statistical methods and is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association, the American Society for Quality, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.