A comparison of landmark methods and time-dependent ROC methods to evaluate the time-varying performance of prognostic markers for survival outcomes

摘要

BackgroundPrognostic markers use an individual’s characteristics at a given time to predict future disease events, with the ultimate goal of guiding medical decision-making. If an accurate prediction can be made, then a prognostic marker could be used clinically to identify those subjects at greatest risk for future adverse events and may be used to define populations appropriate for targeted therapeutic intervention. Often, a marker is measured at a single baseline time point such as disease diagnosis, and then used to guide decisions at multiple subsequent time points. However, the performance of candidate markers may vary over time as an individual’s underlying clinical status changes.