The new Neyman type A beta Weibull model with long-term survivors

For the first time, we propose a flexible cure rate survival model by assuming that the number of competing causes of the event of interest follows the Neyman type A distribution and the time to this event has the beta Weibull distribution. This new model can be used to analyze survival data when the hazard rate function is increasing, decreasing, bathtub or unimodal-shaped. It includes some commonly used lifetime distributions and some well-known cure rate models as special cases. Maximum likelihood and non-parametric bootstrap are used to estimate the regression parameters. We derive the appropriate matrices for assessing local influence on the parameter estimates under different perturbation schemes and present some ways to perform global influence analysis. The usefulness of the new model is illustrated by means of an application in the medical area. Copyright Springer-Verlag 2013