R: Test Survival Curve Differences

survdiff {survival} | R Documentation

## Test Survival Curve Differences

### Description

Tests if there is a difference between two or more survival curves using the G-rho family of tests, or for a single curve against a known alternative.

### Usage

    survdiff(formula, data, subset, na.action, rho=0)

### Arguments

`formula` | a formula expression as for other survival models, of the form `Surv(time, status) ~ predictors`. For a one-sample test, the predictors must consist of a single `offset(sp)` term, where `sp` is a vector giving the survival probability of each subject. For a k-sample test, each unique combination of predictors defines a subgroup. A `strata` term may be used to produce a stratified test. To cause missing values in the predictors to be treated as a separate group, rather than being omitted, use the `strata` function with its `na.group=T` argument.
`data` | an optional data frame in which to interpret the variables occurring in the formula.
`subset` | expression indicating which subset of the rows of data should be used in the fit. This can be a logical vector (which is replicated to have length equal to the number of observations), a numeric vector indicating which observation numbers are to be included (or excluded if negative), or a character vector of row names to be included. All observations are included by default.
`na.action` | a missing-data filter function. This is applied to the `model.frame` after any subset argument has been used. Default is `options()$na.action`.
`rho` | a scalar parameter that controls the type of test.

### Value

a list with components:

`n` | the number of subjects in each group.
`obs` | the weighted observed number of events in each group. If there are strata, this will be a matrix with one column per stratum.
`exp` | the weighted expected number of events in each group. If there are strata, this will be a matrix with one column per stratum.
`chisq` | the chisquare statistic for a test of equality.
`var` | the variance matrix of the test.
`strata` | optionally, the number of subjects contained in each stratum.

### METHOD

This function implements the G-rho family of Harrington and Fleming (1982), with weights on each death of S(t)^rho, where S is the Kaplan-Meier estimate of survival. With `rho = 0` this is the log-rank or Mantel-Haenszel test, and with `rho = 1` it is equivalent to the Peto & Peto modification of the Gehan-Wilcoxon test.

If the right hand side of the formula consists only of an offset term, then a one sample test is done. To cause missing values in the predictors to be treated as a separate group, rather than being omitted, use the `factor` function with its `exclude` argument.

### References

Harrington, D. P. and Fleming, T. R. (1982). A class of rank test procedures for censored survival data. Biometrika 69, 553-566.

### Examples

    ## Two-sample test
    survdiff(Surv(futime, fustat) ~ rx,data=ovarian)

    ## Stratified 7-sample test

    survdiff(Surv(time, status) ~ pat.karno + strata(inst), data=lung)

    ## Expected survival for heart transplant patients based on
    ## US mortality tables
    expect <- survexp(futime ~ ratetable(age=(accept.dt - birth.dt),
         sex=1,year=accept.dt,race="white"), jasa, cohort=FALSE,
         ratetable=survexp.usr)
    ## actual survival is much worse (no surprise)
    survdiff(Surv(jasa$futime, jasa$fustat) ~ offset(expect))

[Package survival version 2.37-7 Index]