Understanding survival analysis and how is it used in biomedical research

Survival analysis is a branch of statistics that focuses on the relationship between time and events. The main aspect of survival analysis is analyzing the duration of time it takes for events to occur. Using this principle, biostatisticians can estimate the probability of occurrence for certain events within a given follow-up period.

Survival analysis was originally developed as a clinical biostatistics discipline and is sometimes used in other areas such as engineering or economy. However, the name survival analysis actually originates from clinical research.

Let’s explore the main uses of survival analysis in clinical research:

Figure 11.1 – Main uses of survival analysis in clinical research

Since survival analysis and the rates at which events such as disease occur are direct evidence of drug efficacy, survival analysis is one of the main tools of drug evaluation...