Abstract

We derive the proper form of the Akaike information criterion for variable selection for mixture cure models, which are often fit via the expectation-maximization algorithm. Separate covariate sets may be used in the mixture components. The selection criteria are applicable to survival models for right-censored data with multiple competing risks and allow for the presence of a non-susceptible group. The method is illustrated on credit loan data, with pre-payment and default as events and maturity as the non-susceptible case and is used in a simulation study. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.