"Efficient Alternatives to the Mantel-Haenszel and van Elteren Tests for Stratified Trials"
Devan Mehrotra, Merck Research Labs.
November 11, 2008 @ 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
Location: John Morgan Building Reunion Hall
Biostatistics
TITLE: Efficient Alternatives to the Mantel-Haenszel and van Elteren Tests for Stratified Trials
The Mantel-Haenszel test (for binary
data) and the van Elteren test (for ranked
data), are two popular methods for the
analysis of stratified trials. In this two-part talk, I will show that these
"standard" methods have good power properties only under restrictive assumptions that, unfortunately, are commonly violated in practice. In part I, I will review
and illustrate the notable power gains of a "minimum risk"
alternative to the MH procedure (and to MH-like procedures) for both
superiority and non-inferiority trials. Likewise, in part II, I will contrast published and new alternatives
to the van Elteren test. Using extensive
simulations, two alternate rank-based procedures will be shown to be substantially
more powerful than the van Elteren test.
Throughout the presentation, numerical examples will be used to
illustrate the methods, and to reinforce the key points.
