The final publication: Lawless, J.F. and Nazeri Rad, N. (2015). Estimation and assessment of markov multistate models with intermittent observations on individuals. Lifetime Data Analysis, 21 (2), 160--179 is available at Springer via http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10985-014-9310-z. DOI: 10.1007/s10985-014-9310-zMultistate models provide important methods of analysis for many life history processes, and this
is an area where John Klein made numerous contributions. When individuals in a study group are
observed continuously so that all transitions between states, and their times, are known, estimation
and model checking is fairly straightforward. However, individuals in many studies are observed intermittently,
and only the states occupied at the observation times are known. We review methods
of estimation and assessment for Markov models in this situation. Numerical studies that show the
effects of inter-observation times are provided, and new methods for assessing fit are given. An illustration
involving viral load dynamics for HIV-positive persons is presented.Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada || (JFL RGPIN 8597
