View PDF Version - RePub - Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam
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Chapter 3.2<br />
154<br />
Focus of marginal, conditional and random effects prediction<br />
Spiegelhalter et al. 25 define the ‘focus’ of the Bayesian model which is given by<br />
considered factorization of the marginal distribution p(y new) of new data. We shall<br />
show that the marginal, conditional and random effects predictions correspond to<br />
different model focuses in the spirit of Spiegelhalter et al. 25 . In our context, there<br />
are two obvious possibilities for factorization of p(y new). Let Θ g be the parameter<br />
space for θ g . With factorization<br />
�<br />
p(y new) = p � �<br />
y � g<br />
new θ � p(θ g ) dθ g , (31)<br />
Θ g<br />
the model is focused on Θ g , i.e., on the mean evolution of the markers over time.<br />
Further, let θ g<br />
1 = � αg′ ,σ g2<br />
g 2<br />
1 ,...,σR � ′ g<br />
and θ2 = � w g′ , μ g′<br />
g ′<br />
1 ,...,μK ,<br />
vec(D g<br />
1 ),...,vec(Dg K )� ′ g<br />
be the parts of θ corresponding to (1) the fixed effects<br />
and variances of random errors and (2) the distribution of the random effects. Let<br />
Θ g<br />
1<br />
and Θg<br />
2 be the corresponding parameter spaces. Finally, let Ψ = Rq be the<br />
parameter space for the vector bnew of random effects. The marginal distribution<br />
p(y new) can alternatively be factorized as<br />
�<br />
p(y new) = p � �<br />
y �<br />
new bnew, θ g�<br />
1 p(bnew) p(θ g<br />
1 ) dbnew dθ g<br />
1 , (32)<br />
where<br />
Ψ×Θ g<br />
1<br />
�<br />
p(bnew) =<br />
p � � �<br />
bnew<br />
� g g<br />
θ2 p(θ2 ) dθg2<br />
, (33)<br />
Θ g<br />
2<br />
and the model is focused on Ψ×Θ g<br />
1 , i.e., on the patient specific evolution of markers<br />
over time.<br />
That is, comparing expressions (28) and (31) we conclude that the marginal prediction<br />
is based on the likelihood of the Bayesian model focused on the mean evolution<br />
of the markers over time. Further, expressions (29) and (33) reveal that the conditional<br />
prediction is based on the likelihood of the Bayesian model focused on the<br />
patient specific evolution of the markers over time where, however, the nuisance parameter<br />
(the vector of random effects) is replaced by a plug-in estimate. Hence, the<br />
conditional prediction ignores variability in the estimation of the individual random<br />
effects. It is seen from expressions (30) and (33) that the random effects prediction<br />
in fact uses the likelihood of the Bayesian model for random effects focused on the<br />
parameters of the distribution of random effects, i.e., focused on the patient specific<br />
evolution of the markers over time. Finally, note that the marginal and conditional<br />
predictions work on the level of the observables and have to take into account also<br />
the error (within subjects) variability. On the other hand, the random effects pre-