The PHREG procedure performs regression analysis of survival data based on the Cox proportional hazards model and its extensions.

The analysis of survival data requires special techniques because the data are almost always incomplete and familiar parametric assumptions might be unjustifiable. Investigators follow subjects until they reach a prespecified endpoint (for example, death). However, subjects sometimes withdraw from a study, or the study is completed before the endpoint is reached. In these cases, the survival times (also known as failure times) are censored; subjects survived to a certain time beyond which their status is unknown. The uncensored survival times are sometimes referred to as event times. Methods of survival analysis must account for both censored and uncensored data.