Modeling Lifetimes by a Stochastic Process Hitting a Critical Point

Abstract

Brazil First hitting times arise naturally in survival analysis where the underlying stochastic counting process represents the strength of the health of an individual. The patient experiences a clinical endpoint when this process reaches a critical point for the first time. We propose a very flexible and unified first hitting time density function in a stochastic carcinogenesis counting process, and its mathematical properties are investigated. The Poisson and negative binomial first hitting time models are addressed and two examples with real data are presented.