A Pearson-type goodness-of-fit test for stationary and time-continuous Markov regression models

Markov regression models describe the way in which a categorical response variable changes over time for subjects with different explanatory variables. Frequently it is difficult to measure the response variable on equally spaced discrete time intervals. Here we propose a Pearson-type goodness-of-fit test for stationary Markov regression models fitted to panel data. A parametric bootstrap algorithm is used to study the distribution of the test statistic. The proposed technique is applied to examine the fit of a Markov regression model used to identify markers for disease progression in psoriatic arthritis. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.