Parametric cure models of relative and cause-specific survival for groupedsurvival times

With parametric cure models, we can express survival parameters (e.g. cured fraction, location and scale parameters) as functions of covariates. These models can measure survival from a specific disease process, either by exa mining deaths due to the cause under study (cause-specific survival), or by comparing all deaths to those in a matched control population (relative su rvival). We present a binomial maximum likelihood algorithm to be used for actuarial data, where follow-up times are grouped into specific intervals. Our algorithm provides simultaneous maximum likelihood estimates for all th e parameters of a cure model and can be used for cause-specific or relative survival analysis with a variety of survival distributions. Current softwa re does not provide the flexibility of this unified approach. (C) 2000 Else vier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.