Extended generalized estimating equations for binary familial data with incomplete families

Abstract

In this article, we assess the performance of two standard, but naive, methods for handling incomplete familial data in GEE2 analyses when the outcome is binary. We also propose a new method for analyzing such data using GEE2 when explanatory variables are discrete. Unlike the naive methods, the new method does not require the missing data process to be ignorable. We illustrate our method with an example that examines the familial aggregation of obesity.