[R-sig-ME] random effects estimation in Lmer

[David Duffy]

On Tue, 15 Dec 2009, Hester Lingsma wrote:

> Dear R-users,
> I have a question on how the random effects are estimated in Lmer
>
> I have a dataset with families with women who have breastcancer. The age
> of cancer diagnosis is highly variable between the families. We want to
> predict the age of cancer diagnosis (for screening purposes) for 'new'
> family members. I have fitted a linear random effects model with lmer (model
> 1)  with age at diagnosis as outcome, a random intercept for family, and
> cancer type (three subtypes, on family level) in the fixed part.
>

Have you looked at the kinship package at all?  It uses lme, but analyses 
age at onset data from families more nicely than lmer can (see the coxme()
function and the vignette/documentation).

David Duffy.

-- 
| David Duffy (MBBS PhD)                                         ,-_|\
| email: davidD at qimr.edu.au  ph: INT+61+7+3362-0217 fax: -0101  /     *
| Epidemiology Unit, Queensland Institute of Medical Research   \_,-._/
| 300 Herston Rd, Brisbane, Queensland 4029, Australia  GPG 4D0B994A v