Performance of multiple imputation methods for incomplete normally distributed longitudinal data
Abstract
Missing data can often occur in longitudinal data. Multiple imputation has been very popular for longitudinal analysis in recent years. In this study, we aim to determine which multiple imputation method is superior for longitudinal normally distributed data when we use linear mixed models. In the literature, multiple imputation by chained equations (MICE) is one of the most popular methods for longitudinal data when using linear mixed models. In MICE, there are three parametric multiple imputation methods, and we compare the three methods with maximum likelihood multiple imputation. Maximum likelihood multiple imputation estimates the parameters using maximum likelihood. After the literature review, we determined that this study will be the first to compare these two approaches for longitudinal normally distributed data when we use linear mixed models. After the simulation study, maximum likelihood multiple imputation has less biased results than the three methods in MICE in terms of mean square error (MSE). The three imputation methods in MICE give closer results to each other. Therefore, we find that maximum likelihood multiple imputation is superior to MICE for longitudinal normally distributed data when we use linear mixed models. Moreover, we show that maximum likelihood multiple imputation can be used for longitudinal normally distributed data with linear mixed models.
Keywords
References
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Details
Primary Language
English
Subjects
Statistical Analysis
Journal Section
Research Article
Authors
Publication Date
April 23, 2026
Submission Date
January 17, 2026
Acceptance Date
April 23, 2026
Published in Issue
Year 2026 Number: 2026