This book provides a comprehensive treatment of linear mixed models for continuous longitudinal data. Next to model formulation, this edition puts major emphasis on exploratory data analysis for all aspects of the model, such as the marginal model, subject-specific profiles, and residual covariance structure. Further, model diagnostics and missing data receive extensive treatment. Sensitivity analysis for incomplete data is given a prominent place. Most analyses were done with the MIXED procedure of the SAS software package, but the data analyses are presented in a software-independent fashion.
Examples.- A Model for Longitudinal Data.- Exploratory Data Analysis.- Estimation of the Marginal Model.- Inference for the Marginal Model.- Inference for the Random Effects.- Fitting Linear Mixed Models with SAS.- General Guidelines for Model Building.- Exploring Serial Correlation.- Local Influence for the Linear Mixed Model.- The Heterogeneity Model.- Conditional Linear Mixed Models.- Exploring Incomplete Data.- Joint Modeling of Measurements and Missingness.- Simple Missing Data Methods.- Selection Models.- Pattern-Mixture Models.- Sensitivity Analysis for Selection Models.- Sensitivity Analysis for Pattern-Mixture Models.- How Ignorable Is Missing At Random ?.- The Expectation-Maximization Algorithm.- Design Considerations.- Case Studies.
