TY - JOUR
T1 - The role of censoring on progression free survival
T2 - Oncologist discretion advised
AU - Prasad, Vinay
AU - Bilal, Usama
PY - 2015/11/1
Y1 - 2015/11/1
N2 - Censoring is increasingly appreciated as a potential bias affecting estimates of progression free survival (PFS) in randomised trials. In this commentary, we explore the central assumption of censoring. Censored patients are considered no more or less likely to undergo the event of interest than those who remain in the analysis. Instead however, if one makes alternate assumptions, that censored patients are different than those who remain on the trial, estimates of PFS change. Using the example of the recent BOLERO-2 trial of exemestane and everolimus, we show that by altering the assumptions for censoring, the major conclusions of clinical trials may change. As such, the number of censored patients at each time interval should be routinely reported in randomised trials to better understand the implications of censoring.
AB - Censoring is increasingly appreciated as a potential bias affecting estimates of progression free survival (PFS) in randomised trials. In this commentary, we explore the central assumption of censoring. Censored patients are considered no more or less likely to undergo the event of interest than those who remain in the analysis. Instead however, if one makes alternate assumptions, that censored patients are different than those who remain on the trial, estimates of PFS change. Using the example of the recent BOLERO-2 trial of exemestane and everolimus, we show that by altering the assumptions for censoring, the major conclusions of clinical trials may change. As such, the number of censored patients at each time interval should be routinely reported in randomised trials to better understand the implications of censoring.
KW - BOLERO-2
KW - Censoring
KW - Informative censoring
KW - Progression free survival
KW - Randomised trial design
KW - Surrogacy
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84943659318&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84943659318&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ejca.2015.07.005
DO - 10.1016/j.ejca.2015.07.005
M3 - Comment/debate
C2 - 26259493
AN - SCOPUS:84943659318
VL - 51
SP - 2269
EP - 2271
JO - European Journal of Cancer
JF - European Journal of Cancer
SN - 0959-8049
IS - 16
ER -