This function generates prior distributions based on user input or default parameters. It is designed to aid in the statistical analysis of risk proportions in populations, particularly in the context of cancer research. The distributions are calculated for various statistical metrics such as asymptote, threshold, median, and first quartile.
Arguments
- data
A data frame containing age and risk data. If NULL or contains NA values, default parameters are used.
- sample_size
Numeric, the total sample size used for risk proportion calculations.
- cancer
Character string, specifying the type of cancer, used in OR/RR ratio calculations.
- ratio
Numeric, the odds ratio (OR) or relative risk (RR) used in asymptote parameter calculations.
- prior_params
List, containing prior parameters for the beta distributions. If NULL, default parameters are used.
- risk_proportion
Data frame, with default proportions of people at risk.
- baseline_data
Data frame with the baseline risk data.
Value
A list of functions representing the prior distributions for asymptote, threshold, median, and first quartile.
Details
The function includes internal helper functions for normalizing median and first quartile values, and for computing beta distribution parameters. The function handles various settings: using default parameters, applying user inputs, and calculating parameters based on sample size and risk proportions.
If the OR/RR ratio is provided, the asymptote parameters are computed based on this ratio, overriding other inputs for the asymptote.
The function returns a list of distribution functions for the asymptote, threshold, median, and first quartile, which can be used for further statistical analysis.