Correlated effects in animal breeding and human epidemiology

Survival analysis is widely spread used in human epidemiology and animal breeding. The proposed project will focus on the estimation of two correlated random effects using survival techniques. In animal breeding two correlated random effects can be direct and maternal genetic effects on a certain survival measure or the genetic effect of a dairy bull on the survival of his daughters as the effect may be different during early and late stages of his daughter`s lactation or in early or late life. In epidemiology studies correlated random effects are often of interest when analysing spatial random effects. As currently is no software available to fit such models with two correlated random effects the software `Survival Kit` will be extended. Application of the new modelling capacities will make use of the new health data to examine the effect of diseases on culling and the time from a starting point to disease occurrence (e.g. the time to first mastitis occurrence after calving) in Austrian Simmental and Brown Swiss cattle. A third application will be in the field of human epidemiology where infant mortality in Austria, with emphasis on correlated spatial random effects, will be analysed.

Survival analysis is widely spread used in human epidemiology and animal breeding. The proposed project will focus on the estimation of two correlated random effects using survival techniques. In animal breeding two correlated random effects can be direct and maternal genetic effects on a certain survival measure or the genetic effect of a dairy bull on the survival of his daughters as the effect may be different during early and late stages of his daughter`s lactation or in early or late life. In epidemiology studies correlated random effects are often of interest when analysing spatial random effects. As currently is no software available to fit such models with two correlated random effects the software "Survival Kit" will be extended. Application of the new modelling capacities will make use of the new health data to examine the effect of diseases on culling and the time from a starting point to disease occurrence (e.g. the time to first mastitis occurrence after calving) in Austrian Simmental and Brown Swiss cattle. A third application will be in the field of human epidemiology where infant mortality in Austria, with emphasis on correlated spatial random effects, will be analysed.