Bayesian Analysis of Asymmetric Bivariate Ordinal Latent Variables Models

Modeling correlated ordinal response data is usually more complex than the case of continuous and binary responses. Existing literature lacks an appropriate approach to modeling such data. For small sample sizes, however, these models lose their appeal since their inferences are based on large samples. In this work, the Bayesian analysis of an asymmetric bivariate ordinal latent variable model has been developed. The latent response variable has been chosen to follow the generalized bivariate Gumble distribution. Using some specific priors and MCMC algorithms the regression parameters were estimated. As an application, a data set concerning Diabetic Retinopathy in 116 patients have been analyzed. This data set includes the disease status of each eye for patients as an ordinal response and a number of explanatory variables some of which are common to both eyes and the rest are organ-specific.