Fig. 1

Global approach flowchart. Representation of the analytical approach followed. The raw data (with missing values) is processed in parallel by three different imputation techniques: omitting or ignoring the corresponding missing entries (Omit), Last Observation Carried Forward (LOCF) and Optimal Completion Strategy (OCS). These three imputed datasets are then separately analysed by the Extended Cox Model and the Joint Models (JM), thus generating three Extended Cox models and nine JM