Analysis of ulcer data using hierarchical generalized linear models

In multi-centre clinical trials, heterogeneities in individual hospital treatment effects can be modelled as random effects. Estimates of the individual hospital treatment effects and estimate of the mean treatment effect, allowing for the presence of overall hospital differences, are required, together with some measure of their uncertainty. Systematic inferences from the hierarchical-likelihood are now possible, using hierarchical generalized linear models. We show how to construct profile likelihoods for the treatment effects of individual hospitals.