1. The coxian phase-type distribution as a contribution to the multilevel model of in-hospital mortality.
- Author
-
Zenga, Mariangela, Marshall, Adele H., Crippa, Franca, and Mitchell, Hannah
- Subjects
- *
MULTILEVEL models , *DISTRIBUTION (Probability theory) , *STATISTICAL correlation , *HOSPITALS , *MATHEMATICAL statistics - Abstract
This paper presents multilevel models that utilize the Coxian phase-type distribution in order to be able to include a survival component in the model. The approach is demonstrated by modeling patient length of stay and in-hospital mortality in geriatric wards in Italy. The multilevel model is used to provide a means of controlling for the existence of possible intra-ward correlations, which may make patients within a hospital more alike in terms of experienced outcome than patients coming from different hospitals, everything else being equal. Within this multilevel model we introduce the use of the Coxian phase-type distribution to create a covariate that represents patient length of stay or stage (of hospital care). Results demonstrate that the use of the multilevel model for representing the in-patient mortality is successful and further enhanced by the inclusion of the Coxian phase-type distribution variable (stage covariate). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]
- Published
- 2016
- Full Text
- View/download PDF