The purpose of this study is to propose a novel, general, tractable, fully parametric class for hazard-based and odds-based models of survival regression for the analysis of censored lifetime data, named as the “Amoud class (AM)” of models. This generality was attained using a structure resembling the general class of hazard-based regression models, with the addition that the baseline odds function is multiplied by a link function. The class is broad enough to cover a number of widely used models, including the proportional hazard model, the general hazard model, the proportional odds model, the general odds model, the accelerated hazards model, the accelerated odds model, and the accelerated failure time model, as well as combinations of these. The proposed class incorporates the analysis of crossing survival curves. Based on a versatile parametric distribution (generalized log-logistic) for the baseline hazard, we introduced a technique for applying these various hazard-based and odds-based regression models. This distribution allows us to cover the most common hazard rate shapes in practice (decreasing, constant, increasing, unimodal, and reversible unimodal), and various common survival distributions (Weibull, Burr-XII, log-logistic, exponential) are its special cases. The proposed model has good inferential features, and it performs well when different information criteria and likelihood ratio tests are used to select hazard-based and odds-based regression models. The proposed model’s utility is demonstrated by an application to a right-censored lifetime dataset with crossing survival curves.

This study aims to propose a flexible, fully parametric hazard-based regression model for censored time-to-event data with crossing survival curves. We call it the accelerated hazard (AH) model. The AH model can be written with or without a baseline distribution for lifetimes. The former assumption results in parametric regression models, whereas the latter results in semi-parametric regression models, which are by far the most commonly used in time-to-event analysis. However, under certain conditions, a parametric hazard-based regression model may produce more efficient estimates than a semi-parametric model. The parametric AH model, on the other hand, is inappropriate when the baseline distribution is exponential because it is constant over time; similarly, when the baseline distribution is the Weibull distribution, the AH model coincides with the accelerated failure time (AFT) and proportional hazard (PH) models. The use of a versatile parametric baseline distribution (generalized log-logistic distribution) for modeling the baseline hazard rate function is investigated. For the parameters of the proposed AH model, the classical (via maximum likelihood estimation) and Bayesian approaches using noninformative priors are discussed. A comprehensive simulation study was conducted to assess the performance of the proposed model’s estimators. A real-life right-censored gastric cancer dataset with crossover survival curves is used to demonstrate the tractability and utility of the proposed fully parametric AH model. The study concluded that the parametric AH model is effective and could be useful for assessing a variety of survival data types with crossover survival curves.

A fully parametric accelerated failure time (AFT) model with a flexible, novel modified exponential Weibull baseline distribution called the extended exponential Weibull accelerated failure time (ExEW-AFT) model is proposed. The model is presented using the multi-parameter survival regression model, where more than one distributional parameter is linked to the covariates. The model formulation, probabilistic functions, and some of its sub-models were derived. The parameters of the introduced model are estimated using the maximum likelihood approach. An extensive simulation study is used to assess the estimates’ performance using different scenarios based on the baseline hazard shape. The proposed model is applied to a real-life right-censored COVID-19 data set from Sudan to illustrate the practical applicability of the proposed AFT model.

In this study, we consider a general, flexible, parametric hazard-based regression model for censored lifetime data with covariates and term it the “general hazard (GH)” regression model. Some well-known models, such as the accelerated failure time (AFT), and the proportional hazard (PH) models, as well as the accelerated hazard (AH) model accounting for crossed survival curves, are sub-classes of this general hazard model. In the proposed class of hazard-based regression models, a covariate’s effect is identified as having two distinct components, namely a relative hazard ratio and a time-scale change on hazard progression. The new approach is more adaptive to modelling lifetime data and could give more accurate survival forecasts. The nested structure that includes the AFT, AH, and PH models in the general hazard model may offer a numerical tool for identifying which of them is most appropriate for a certain dataset. In this study, we propose a method for applying these various parametric hazard-based regression models that is based on a tractable parametric distribution for the baseline hazard, known as the generalized log-logistic (GLL) distribution. This distribution is closed under all the PH, AH, and AFT frameworks and can incorporate all of the basic hazard rate shapes of interest in practice, such as decreasing, constant, increasing, V-shaped, unimodal, and J-shaped hazard rates. The Bayesian and frequentist approaches were used to estimate the model parameters. Comprehensive simulation studies were used to evaluate the performance of the proposed model’s estimators and its nested structure. A right-censored cancer dataset is used to illustrate the application of the proposed approach. The proposed model performs well on both real and simulation datasets, demonstrating the importance of developing a flexible parametric general class of hazard-based regression models with both time-independent and time-dependent covariates for evaluating the hazard function and hazard ratio over time.

Anemia is a major public health problem in Africa, affecting an increasing number of children under five years. Guinea is one of the most affected countries. In 2018, the prevalence rate in Guinea was 75% for children under five years. This study sought to identify the factors associated with anemia and to map spatial variation of anemia across the eight (8) regions in Guinea for children under five years, which can provide guidance for control programs for the reduction of the disease. Data from the Guinea Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS5) 2016 was used for this study. A total of 2609 children under five years who had full covariate information were used in the analysis. Spatial binomial logistic regression methodology was undertaken via Bayesian estimation based on Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) using WinBUGS software version 1.4. The findings in this study revealed that 77% of children under five years in Guinea had anemia, and the prevalences in the regions ranged from 70.32% (Conakry) to 83.60% (NZerekore) across the country. After adjusting for non-spatial and spatial random effects in the model, older children (48–59 months) (OR: 0.47, CI [0.29 0.70]) were less likely to be anemic compared to those who are younger (0–11 months). Children whose mothers had completed secondary school or above had a 33% reduced risk of anemia (OR: 0.67, CI [0.49 0.90]), and children from household heads from the Kissi ethnic group are less likely to have anemia than their counterparts whose leaders are from Soussou (OR: 0.48, CI [0.23 0.92]).