simulate_proportional_survival: Simulate proportional-hazards survival data with calibrated...

In simulab: Simulates a Wide Variety of Data Shapes, Sizes and Distributions

Simulate proportional-hazards survival data with calibrated censoring

Description

Draws independent covariates, multiplies the baseline cumulative hazard by exp(x %*% coefficients), and inverts it to an event time, so the model is proportional hazards and each coefficient is a log hazard ratio. The three baselines are, for a unit with linear predictor eta, Weibull H(t) = rate * exp(eta) * t^shape, exponential H(t) = rate * exp(eta) * t, and Gompertz H(t) = rate * exp(eta) * (exp(shape * t) - 1) / shape. Censoring is random, not administrative: an independent exponential censoring time is drawn for every unit, its rate solved so that the expected censored fraction equals censoring.

Usage

simulate_proportional_survival(
  n,
  coefficients,
  baseline = c("weibull", "exponential", "gompertz"),
  rate = 0.1,
  shape = 1,
  censoring = 0.3,
  covariate_distribution = c("normal", "binary"),
  seed = NULL,
  batch = NULL
)

Arguments

n	Sample size. A single whole number of at least 5.
coefficients	Covariate log-hazard coefficients, a numeric vector with at least one element and one entry per covariate. Its names become the covariate columns; unnamed vectors are named X1, X2, and so on.
baseline	Baseline hazard family, one of "weibull" (the default), "exponential" or "gompertz".
rate	Positive scale factor of the baseline cumulative hazard. A single positive number, defaulting to 0.1. It is the constant hazard when baseline is "exponential".
shape	Positive shape of the Weibull or Gompertz baseline, in the textbook parameterization of the formulas above (so the hazard rises with time when shape is above 1 for a Weibull baseline). A single positive number, defaulting to 1. It is ignored for an exponential baseline.
censoring	Target fraction of censored observations. A single number in ⁠[0, 1)⁠, defaulting to 0.3. Exactly 0 turns censoring off and every observation is then an event; the realized fraction is random around the target otherwise.
covariate_distribution	Distribution the covariates are drawn from, independently, one of "normal" (the default, standard normal) or "binary" (Bernoulli with probability 0.5).
seed	Optional random seed. A single number, or NULL (the default).
batch	Optional single positive whole number. When given, the simulator runs batch times and returns a plain list of batch results, each exactly what the same call without batch returns. With a seed, every dataset gets its own seed drawn from seed, so the whole batch is reproducible; without one the datasets are consecutive draws from the session's random-number stream. The default NULL returns a single result.

Value

A simulab_sim base data.frame with one row per unit and columns id, time (the observed time, the smaller of the event and censoring times), the integer status (1 for an event and 0 for a censored observation), and one covariate column per entry of coefficients. Components: parameters (one row per term, columns term and value, holding the coefficients followed by baseline_rate, shape and the solved censoring_rate) and diagnostics (one row, columns target_censoring, realized_censoring and baseline).

Examples

result <- simulate_proportional_survival(
  n = 200,
  coefficients = c(x1 = 0.7),
  shape = 1.5,
  censoring = 0.2,
  seed = 1
)
head(result)
as.data.frame(result, what = "parameters")

simulab documentation built on Oct. 15, 2026, 5:08 p.m.