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Software
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MLwiN 2.261
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WinBUGS version 1.4
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Cost
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Once-off purchase
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Free
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Available interfaces
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Stata
|
Stata, SAS, R
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Initial data structure
| | |
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Retains multilevel structure (Patients nested in higher-level units)
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Yes
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No
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Data expansion required
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Yes
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No
|
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Geographical Structure
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None
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Preserves adjacent areas
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Explanatory variables
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Unit Record Individual and higher-level
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Aggregated at individual-level and higher-level
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|
Modelled Outcome
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Individual deaths
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Aggregated deaths
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Random Effects
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Yes
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Yes
|
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Prior distributions
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Gamma, Uniform
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Any including Gamma, Uniform, CAR
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Default Priors
|
Yes
|
requires user specification of priors; greater flexibility
|
|
Estimation Method: MCMC
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Yes
|
Yes
|
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Number of MCMC chains
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Single only
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Single (multiple allowed also)
|
|
Level of random effects
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Individual and higher-level
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Higher-level
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|
Within-area correlation
|
Yes
|
No
|
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Between-area correlation
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No
|
Yes
|
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Adjacency matrix
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
Computational efficiency ( 5 year data)2
|
5-7 days
|
5-7 days
|
|
Ease of Implementation
|
R equires prior data expansion
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Requires specification of model including prior distributions
|
|
Diagnostic Tests/ convergence plots
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Questions answered:
| | |
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Do area- and individual-level factors impact survival for individual patients?
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Yes
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No
|
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Extent to which between-individual variability is explained by covariates at both levels
|
Yes
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No
|
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Estimates unexplained area-level spatial variation after adjusting for parameters
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No
|
Yes
|
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Map spatial variation by small-areas
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No
|
Yes
|
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Cross level interactions
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Yes
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No
|
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Allow unit record individual-level inferences
|
Yes
|
No
|
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Parameter estimates
|
Odds ratio (OR)
|
Relative risk (RR)
|
