382 Current Trends in Bayesian Methodology with Applications
methods identified a statistically significant acceleration of the disease pr o-
cess over time [14]. However, if we are additionally interested in allowing for
subject-specific va riation in the rate of acceleration of the process, maximum
likelihood methods become intractable. Subject-specific variation in the rate
of progression of the disease is of interest in this c ontext because subjects
included in the study are extremely heterogeneous. Variation exists in demo-
graphics, treatments, and cancer-types in these patients. Unmeasured factors
and intrinsic variations in disease susceptibility and recover y may influence
the course of delirium in individual patients. We can account for varia ...