Comment on "Average Hazard as Harmonic Mean" by Chiba

Abstract

In a recent article published in Pharmaceutical Statistics, Chiba proposed a reinterpretation of the average hazard as a harmonic mean of the hazard function and questioned the validity of the Kaplan-Meier plug-in estimator when the truncation time does not coincide with an observed event time. In this commentary, we examine the arguments presented and highlight several points that warrant clarification. Through simulation studies, we further show that the plug-in estimator provides reliable estimates across a range of truncation times, even in small samples. These support the continued utilization of the Kaplan-Meier plug-in estimator for the average hazard and help clarify its proper interpretation and implementation.