A binning method for analyzing mixed longitudinal data measured at distinct time points

For longitudinal data where the response and time‐dependent predictors within each individual are measured at distinct time points, traditional longitudinal models such as generalized linear mixed effects models or marginal models cannot be directly applied. Instead, some preprocessing such as smoothing is required to temporally align the response and predictors. We propose a binning method, which results in equally spaced bins of time. After incorporating binning, traditional models can be applied. The proposed binning approach was applied on a longitudinal hemodialysis study to look for possible contemporaneous and lagged effects between occurrences of a health event (i.e. infection) and levels of a protein marker of inflammation (i.e. C‐reactive protein). Both Poisson mixed effects models and zero‐inflated Poisson (ZIP) mixed effects models were applied to the subsequent data, and some important biological findings about contemporaneous and lagged associations were uncovered. In addition, a simulation study was conducted to investigate various properties of the binning approach. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.