Relative Performance of Model Selection Criteria for Cox Proportional Hazards Regression Based on Kullback’s Symmetric Divergence

The Cox proportional hazards model is one of the most used models to analyze time-to-event outcomes. The decision on the most suitable model for those data is an essential analysis point. For this purpose, different model selection criteria can be used under various assumptions. This study assesses...

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Main Authors: Clarisse Houénafa Dete, Bruno Enagnon Lokonon, Kossi Essona Gneyou, Marcel Senou, Romain Glèlè Kakaï
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2025-01-01
Series:Journal of Probability and Statistics
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/jpas/3808705
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author Clarisse Houénafa Dete
Bruno Enagnon Lokonon
Kossi Essona Gneyou
Marcel Senou
Romain Glèlè Kakaï
author_facet Clarisse Houénafa Dete
Bruno Enagnon Lokonon
Kossi Essona Gneyou
Marcel Senou
Romain Glèlè Kakaï
author_sort Clarisse Houénafa Dete
collection DOAJ
description The Cox proportional hazards model is one of the most used models to analyze time-to-event outcomes. The decision on the most suitable model for those data is an essential analysis point. For this purpose, different model selection criteria can be used under various assumptions. This study assesses the relative performance of new model selection criteria based on Kullback’s symmetric divergence in the Cox proportional hazards model. For this purpose, we compared the Kullback information criterion (KIC) and the corrected KICKICc with other information criteria such as the Akaike information criterion AIC, corrected AICAICc, and Bayesian information criterion BIC using a Monte Carlo experiment. Simulations were run using scenarios resulting from the combination of sample size n=30,50,100,200,300, censoring percentage C=5%,10%,15%,20%,25%,and 30%, and censoring distribution (uniform or exponential). The results revealed that the KIC family criteria favor models with more accurate predictive power, irrespective of sample size or censoring percentage. However, they tend to select more underfitted models, which means that the KIC family favors parsimonious models, regardless of sample size or censoring percentage. A larger sample size n=200,300 improves the performance of these criteria in choosing the true model, irrespective of the censoring percentage. However, AIC and AICc outperform the KIC family criteria for relatively small to moderate sample sizes n=30,50,100 in true model (containing only the relevant covariates) selection. In addition, BIC tends to favor underfitted models over KIC family criteria. Variations in censoring percentage, sample size, and censoring distribution affect the performance of these criteria in identifying the true model. These findings suggest that we should prefer KIC or KICc for larger sample sizes and when prioritizing the predictive accuracy of the model. For smaller sample sizes, we should prefer AIC or AICc, and BIC in scenarios where model parsimony is critical. It is important to note that no model selection criterion is the best in all situations, as they performed differently under different circumstances.
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spelling doaj-art-881f6ceb001e4b218958bf8dc2a559ac2025-02-06T00:00:02ZengWileyJournal of Probability and Statistics1687-95382025-01-01202510.1155/jpas/3808705Relative Performance of Model Selection Criteria for Cox Proportional Hazards Regression Based on Kullback’s Symmetric DivergenceClarisse Houénafa Dete0Bruno Enagnon Lokonon1Kossi Essona Gneyou2Marcel Senou3Romain Glèlè Kakaï4Laboratoire de Biomathématiques et d’Estimations ForestiéresLaboratoire de Biomathématiques et d’Estimations ForestiéresDepartment of MathematicsFaculty of Agronomic SciencesLaboratoire de Biomathématiques et d’Estimations ForestiéresThe Cox proportional hazards model is one of the most used models to analyze time-to-event outcomes. The decision on the most suitable model for those data is an essential analysis point. For this purpose, different model selection criteria can be used under various assumptions. This study assesses the relative performance of new model selection criteria based on Kullback’s symmetric divergence in the Cox proportional hazards model. For this purpose, we compared the Kullback information criterion (KIC) and the corrected KICKICc with other information criteria such as the Akaike information criterion AIC, corrected AICAICc, and Bayesian information criterion BIC using a Monte Carlo experiment. Simulations were run using scenarios resulting from the combination of sample size n=30,50,100,200,300, censoring percentage C=5%,10%,15%,20%,25%,and 30%, and censoring distribution (uniform or exponential). The results revealed that the KIC family criteria favor models with more accurate predictive power, irrespective of sample size or censoring percentage. However, they tend to select more underfitted models, which means that the KIC family favors parsimonious models, regardless of sample size or censoring percentage. A larger sample size n=200,300 improves the performance of these criteria in choosing the true model, irrespective of the censoring percentage. However, AIC and AICc outperform the KIC family criteria for relatively small to moderate sample sizes n=30,50,100 in true model (containing only the relevant covariates) selection. In addition, BIC tends to favor underfitted models over KIC family criteria. Variations in censoring percentage, sample size, and censoring distribution affect the performance of these criteria in identifying the true model. These findings suggest that we should prefer KIC or KICc for larger sample sizes and when prioritizing the predictive accuracy of the model. For smaller sample sizes, we should prefer AIC or AICc, and BIC in scenarios where model parsimony is critical. It is important to note that no model selection criterion is the best in all situations, as they performed differently under different circumstances.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/jpas/3808705
spellingShingle Clarisse Houénafa Dete
Bruno Enagnon Lokonon
Kossi Essona Gneyou
Marcel Senou
Romain Glèlè Kakaï
Relative Performance of Model Selection Criteria for Cox Proportional Hazards Regression Based on Kullback’s Symmetric Divergence
Journal of Probability and Statistics
title Relative Performance of Model Selection Criteria for Cox Proportional Hazards Regression Based on Kullback’s Symmetric Divergence
title_full Relative Performance of Model Selection Criteria for Cox Proportional Hazards Regression Based on Kullback’s Symmetric Divergence
title_fullStr Relative Performance of Model Selection Criteria for Cox Proportional Hazards Regression Based on Kullback’s Symmetric Divergence
title_full_unstemmed Relative Performance of Model Selection Criteria for Cox Proportional Hazards Regression Based on Kullback’s Symmetric Divergence
title_short Relative Performance of Model Selection Criteria for Cox Proportional Hazards Regression Based on Kullback’s Symmetric Divergence
title_sort relative performance of model selection criteria for cox proportional hazards regression based on kullback s symmetric divergence
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/jpas/3808705
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