Latent Transition Analysis
A technique modelling how individuals move between unobserved categorical subgroups over time, combining latent class analysis with a longitudinal framework.
Encyclopaedia
Explore comprehensive, evidence-informed explanations of key health economics concepts, including their development, application and relationships to other concepts. Published entries are validated through human expert review.
Latent Variable
An unobserved, underlying construct inferred from patterns among observed, measurable variables, such as a health dimension inferred from questionnaire responses.
Latin Hypercube Sampling
A sampling technique dividing each input's range into equally probable intervals and sampling each exactly once, giving more even coverage than simple random sampling.
Law of Large Numbers
A theorem stating that as sample size increases, the sample average of a variable converges toward the true underlying population average.
Leave-One-Out
A cross-validation form repeatedly refitting a model using all but one observation, using that observation to test accuracy, until each has served once.
Left Censoring
A form of censoring in which an event is known to have occurred before an observed time, but its exact prior timing is unknown.
Leverage Point
An observation with an unusual combination of predictor values, distinct from the bulk of the data, capable of disproportionately influencing a regression model.
Life Table
A tabular record of a population's mortality experience, showing the probability of death at each age and the resulting survivors over time.
Life Table Method
A survival technique dividing follow-up into fixed intervals and calculating the proportion of at-risk patients surviving each, accounting for censoring.
Likelihood Ratio Test
A statistical test comparing the fit of two nested models by their ratio of likelihoods, used to judge whether added parameters improve fit.
Linear Model Health
A statistical or decision-analytic model in which inputs and outputs are related by a simple linear function, such as a constant per-unit cost.
Linear Pool
A method combining multiple experts' probability distributions by taking a weighted arithmetic average, producing a single pooled distribution.
Linear Programming Health
An optimisation technique identifying the resource allocation that maximises or minimises a linear objective subject to linear constraints, such as a fixed budget.
Linear Regression
A modelling technique estimating the linear relationship between a continuous outcome and one or more predictors, giving expected change per unit predictor.
Liquidity Ratio
A financial ratio measuring an organisation's ability to meet short-term financial obligations using its most readily available assets.
Listwise Deletion
A missing data method excluding any observation with a missing value on any variable in an analysis, using only complete cases.
Log-Logistic Distribution
A probability distribution capable of representing a hazard function that first rises and then falls over time.
Log-Logistic Model
A survival model based on the log-logistic distribution, representing a hazard function that rises to a peak and then declines.
Log-Normal Distribution
A probability distribution in which the logarithm of the variable follows a normal distribution, often used for hazards that rise then fall.
Log-Normal Model
A survival model based on the log-normal distribution, capable of representing a hazard that rises then falls, similar in shape to log-logistic.