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Look left, look right: censoring in clinical research
Rolf H H Groenwold1,2, Olaf M Dekkers1,3
1Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, Leiden 2333 ZA, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
In this methodology editorial, the problem of censored survival (or time-to-event) data in clinical research is discussed. In case of censored observations, part of the observation time for some participants in a study is unobserved, which means that measures such as an average survival time cannot be calculated. Instead, censored survival time should explicitly be accounted for in the analysis of a study, for example using the Kaplan-Meier method. Implications of censoring and how to deal with it in the analysis of a study or when reading a research paper are discussed.
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