Mixed Model For Analyzing Variability in Mortality Rates Over Time With Reference To Qatar Mortality Data

Abstract

It was observed that variability in mortality rates over time in the state of Qatar is not of binomial nature. A method of analyzing these mortality rates in the heterogeneous population is presented in this paper. Three estimation approaches are also investigated. This variability was also examines for the total males and the total females. In each analysis it was observed that the variability is very much the same as what one would expect under a beta-binomial model. A significant finding, for the mortality data, was that estimates of the parameter 0 were remarkably homogeneous for each analysis. That is, the relative degree of extra binomiality was very much the same from month to month, regardless of the population size or the number of months in the analysis.