Investigating onset, cessation, relapse, and recovery: why you should, and how you can, use discrete-time survival analysis to examine event occurrence.

In this article, we show how discrete-time survival analysis can address questions about onset, cessation, relapse, and recovery. Using data on the onset of suicide ideation and depression and relapse into cocaine use, we introduce key concepts underpinning the method, describe the action of the discrete-time hazard model, and discuss several types of main effects and interactions that can be included as predictors. We also comment on practical issues of data analysis and strategies for interpretation and presentation.