ESTIMATION OF THE DURATION OF A PRE-CLINICAL DISEASE STATE USING SCREENING DATA

In this paper, the authors show how data on the observed prevalence of disease at a screen and on the incidence of disease during intervals between screens may be used to estimate jointly the distribution of the length of time during which individuals remain in the pre-clinical state and the sensitivity of the screen. Apart from being of biologic interest, such estimates may be used to evaluate the length of time by which the date of diagnosis …