LEVELS IN THE FOLLOW-UP OF A LONG-TERM CLINICAL PROCESS

I developed a 5-stage, 7-compartment prognostic model for the long-ter m follow-up of 28 patients with sickle chronic lung disease. Estimated hazard functions for transition varied with Stage 1, 2, 3, or 4 of si ckle chronic lung disease as well as stage at diagnosis and duration o f observation with hematologic disease before the recognition of sickl e chronic lung disease. Individualized hazard matrices produced 28 pro gnostic probability functions of time that had heterogeneous levels an d shapes. The probability of death from the time of diagnosis to the e nd of each patient's integrated hazard. Such integrated hazard values, developed from a prognostic model, provide a superior context for car rying out standard formal tests and inferences regarding the effects o f alternative treatments in randomized clinical trials.