merlin in Stata: Joint models, multistate models, and more

The challenges in statistics and data science are growing as access to a multitude of data types continues to increase, as well as the sheer quantity of data. Analysts are now presented with multivariate data, sometimes measured repeatedly and often requiring the ability to model nonlinear relationships and hierarchical structures. In this talk, I will give an overview of the merlin command, which attempts to provide an extremely general framework for data analysis. From simple things, like fitting a linear regression model or a Weibull survival model to a three-level logistic mixed-effects model, or a multivariate joint model of multiple longitudinal outcomes (of different types) and a recurrent event and survival with nonlinear effects...merlin can fit them all. I’ll take a single dataset and attempt to show you the full range of capabilities of merlin before diving into some new tricks in the field of multistate survival modeling.