Concordance correlation coefficients estimated by modified variance components and generalized estimating equations for longitudinal overdispersed Poisson data

Abstract

For longitudinal overdispersed Poisson data sets, estimators of the intra-, inter-, and total concordance correlation coefficient through variance components have been proposed. However, biased estimators of quadratic forms are used in concordance correlation coefficient estimation. In addition, the generalized estimating equations approach has been used in estimating agreement for longitudinal normal data and not for longitudinal overdispersed Poisson data. Therefore, this paper proposes a modified variance component approach to develop the unbiased estimators of the concordance correlation coefficient for longitudinal overdispersed Poisson data. Further, the indices of intra-, inter-, and total agreement through generalized estimating equations are also developed considering the correlation structure of longitudinal count repeated measurements. Simulation studies are conducted to compare the performance of the modified variance component and generalized estimating equation approaches for longitudinal Poisson and overdispersed Poisson data sets. An application of corticospinal diffusion tensor tractography study is used for illustration. In conclusion, the modified variance component approach performs outstandingly well with small mean square errors and nominal 95% coverage rates. The generalized estimating equation approach provides in model assumption flexibility of correlation structures for repeated measurements to produce satisfactory concordance correlation coefficient estimation results.