A competing risks analysis of bloodstream infection after stem-cell transplantation using subdistribution hazards and cause-specific hazards.

After peripheral blood stem-cell transplantation, patients treated for severe haematologic diseases enter a critical phase (neutropenia). Analysis of bloodstream infection during neutropenia has to account for competing risks. Separate Cox analyses of all cause-specific hazards are the standard technique of choice, but are hard to interpret when the overall effects of covariates on the cumulative incidence function (CIF) are of interest. Proportional subdistribution hazards modelling of the subdistribution of the CIF is establishing itself as an interpretation-friendly alternative. We apply both methods and discuss their relative merits.