Applications of survival analysis to aging research

Many research questions in aging research treat time as the outcome variable. Researchers ask how much time must pass before a specific type of change or event occurs, and whether these times differ by characteristics of the subjects' background, training and treatment. Because of serious technical problems that arise when analyzing duration data, specially derived statistical methods--the methods of survival analysis--are required to answer the questions. In this paper, we introduce the conceptual framework of these new methodologies for analyzing duration data. We begin by identifying the types of research question that might appropriately treat time as an outcome. We then describe the new statistical methods for addressing such questions, provide a broad overview of their application, and identify relevant published sources containing additional background and technical information.