A moving average Cholesky factor model in covariance modelling for longitudinal data

We propose new regression models for parameterizing covariance structures in longitudinal data analysis. Using a novel Cholesky factor, the entries in this decomposition have a moving average and log-innovation interpretation and are modelled as linear functions of covariates. We propose efficient maximum likelihood estimates for joint mean-covariance analysis based on this decomposition and derive the asymptotic distributions of the coefficient estimates. Furthermore, we study a local search algorithm, computationally more efficient than traditional all subset selection, based on BIC for model selection, and show its model selection consistency. Thus, a conjecture of Pan & MacKenzie (2003) is verified. We demonstrate the finite-sample performance of the method via analysis of data on CD4 trajectories and through simulations.