Cox Proportional Hazards Regression

In the analysis of survival data, researchers want to ascertain characteristics of the patient that influence patient survival time. The relationship between a single response variable (survival time) and covariates (patient/disease characteristics) is often inferred through the use of a regression model. Typical regression models, such as linear or logistic regression, do not work when the response variable is survival time, since the time to death may not be recorded for all patients at the time of analysis. If a patient is still alive at the time of analysis or has been lost to follow-up, the patient survival time is said to have been right censored (or simply censored) at the time of the last observed follow-up. If the patient has been lost to follow-up, ...