Survival Analysis Using SAS®: A Practical Guide

Introduction

The LIFEREG procedure produces estimates of parametric regression models with censored survival data using the method of maximum likelihood. In recent years, PROC LIFEREG has been eclipsed by the PHREG procedure, which does semiparametric regression analysis using a method known as partial likelihood. The reasons for PROC PHREG’s popularity will become apparent in the next chapter. PROC LIFEREG is by no means obsolete, however. It can do some things better than PROC PHREG, and it can do other things that PROC PHREG can’t do at all:

• PROC LIFEREG accommodates left censoring and interval censoring. PROC PHREG only allows right censoring.

• With PROC LIFEREG, you can test certain hypotheses about the shape of the hazard function. PROC ...