On Mann–Whitney tests for comparing sojourn time distributions when the transition times are right censored

摘要: We consider the problem of comparing sojourn time distributions a transient state in general multistate system two samples (groups) when transition times are right censored. Using reweighting principle, two-sample Mann–Whitney type $$U$$ -statistic is constructed that compares only uncensored from distributions. A second statistic also using different allows for comparisons one either or singly Both these statistics asymptotically unbiased, normally distributed and reduce to standard there no censoring. test equality independent by symmetrizing statistic. The testing methodology illustrated data set on kidney disease patients.