ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews frequentist non- and semiparametric survival methods and software for right-censored data to familiarize the reader with some methods. It discusses the Kaplan-Meier estimate of the survival curve and statistical methods to compare non-parametrically two survival curves. The chapter also discusses the less commonly used accelerated failure time model. The plot function provides basic plots of fitted Kaplan-Meier curves. The statistical analysis software provides the Kaplan-Meier estimate with the procedures PROC LIFETEST, PROC LIFEREG and PROC RELIABILITY. The LIFETEST procedure provides a non-parametric estimate of the survival function only for right-censored data. The Cox proportional hazards model has a semiparametric nature. It assumes a parametric form for the effects of the explanatory variables, but allows the hazard function of a "typical" subject to be unspecified. The PH model for right-censored data is supported by the function coxph of the package survival.
