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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Gabriel P. Suciu, PhD, HPD-College of Osteopathic Medicine-Public Health Program, Nova Southeastern University, 3200 S University Dr., Terry Bulding, Suite 1574, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33328, 954-262-1652, suciu@nova.edu

Hypothesis tests of the equality of Kaplan-Meier and life-table survival curves is typically accomplished using one of the available methods designed for this purpose but, without doubt, the logrank test is the one most commonly used. Perhaps the reason for the popularity of the logrank test rests in its ready availability in almost all statistical software packages. However, what many users do not appreciate is that the logrank test has very low power for some alternative hypothesis. This observation probably reflects a general lack of appreciation for the fact that different alternative hypotheses may be appropriate in different epidemiological/clinical settings and that some investigators may not be aware that the proportional hazards assumption should be checked. This study presents a new taxonomy for the test of the equality of survival curves, that includes critical margins that are used to enhance the new proposed methodology. A specific guideline was created to ease the researcher tasks. There is no general test that fits all comparisons, therefore the testing should be performed according to the alternative hypothesis of interest and the relationship of the hazard functions.

Learning Objectives: