1. Introduction
The exponential distribution is widely used in applied statistics due to its simplicity and memoryless property, which makes it suitable for modeling the time between independent events. However, in many real-world applications, the failure rate is often not constant. This limitation of the exponential distribution has led to the development of several generalizations, such as the Marshall–Olkin exponential [
1], weighted exponential [
2], Kumaraswamy Marshall–Olkin exponential [
3], and Lomax exponential distributions [
4], among others. These models provide greater flexibility in modeling complex datasets, such as those with varying failure rates.
One such generalization is the modified MFE distribution [
5], which demonstrates better results in modeling real-world datasets compared to other versions of the exponential distribution. This makes the MFE distribution particularly attractive and relevant for medical and economic applications.
In the context of dialysis patients, infection at the catheter insertion site is a critical complication. Each time an infection occurs, the catheter must be removed, the infection treated, and a new catheter reinserted. This cycle continues throughout the patient’s treatment, making the recurrence times between infections—denoted as (first recurrence time) and (second recurrence time)—a vital measure for predicting future complications and optimizing patient care.
A random variable
X is said to follow the MFE distribution with parameters
as a scale parameter and
as a shape parameter if the probability density function (pdf) is given by
while the cumulative distribution function (cdf) is given by
In recent years, copula-based models have gained significant attention in modeling complex dependence structures across various fields such as finance, hydrology, and reliability engineering (Nelsen [
6]; Joe [
7]). Among these, the FGM and AMH families have proven particularly valuable due to their flexibility and ease of construction (Durante and Sempi [
8]). At the same time, modifications of classical lifetime distributions, such as the Fréchet–exponential distribution, have been proposed to improve model fitting to real-world data.
In this study, we introduce two new copula-based distributions: the FGM-based modified Fréchet–exponential (FGMBMFE) distribution and the AMH-based modified Fréchet–exponential (AMHBMFE) distribution. These models aim to capture a broader range of dependence structures and tail behaviors by integrating copula dependence into the baseline modified Fréchet–exponential distribution. The construction of these models leverages the respective properties of the FGM and AMH copulas, providing flexible yet tractable formulations suitable for various applications.
The main objective of this work is to develop the theoretical properties of the FGMBMFE and AMHBMFE distributions, including their marginal behaviors, joint distributions, and dependence characteristics. To assess the practical performance of the proposed models, several numerical experiments and real-data applications are presented in later sections. These examples are intended to illustrate the estimation techniques, such as the maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) and inference functions for margins (IFM) methods, as well as to evaluate the models’ efficiency and goodness of fit. See, for example, [
9,
10,
11,
12,
13,
14,
15,
16].
Copulas are functions that combine multivariate distribution functions with uniform
margins according to Nelsen [
6]. An easy way to describe a multivariate distribution with a dependent structure is to use a copula. The
n-dimensional copula (
C) exists for all
, …,
, and if
F is continuous, then
C is defined only by
. According to Sklar [
17], the cdf and pdf copulas for the two random variables
and
, with distribution functions
and
, are as follows:
and
There are many bivariate distributions obtained using copula functions, such as the bivariate generalized exponential distribution using the Clayton copula in [
18], the bivariate generalized exponential distribution using the FGM and Plackett copulas in [
19], the bivariate Weibull distribution using the FGM copula in [
20], and other bivariate distributions using copula functions.
This paper introduces two bivariate models: the FGM-based modified Fréchet–exponential (FGMBMFE) distribution and the AMH-based modified Fréchet–exponential (AMHBMFE) distribution. These models are designed to analyze the recurrence times of infections in kidney patients using portable dialysis machines. By providing enhanced predictions and facilitating improved infection risk management. These models aim to contribute to better patient outcomes. Another application is related to GDP growth.
Table 1 presents the joint cdf and pdf for the FGM and AMH copulas.
The FGM copula is one of the well-known parametric copula families. This family was first introduced by Gumbel [
21]. The formula for the Kendall’s and Spearman’s correlation coefficients of the FGM copula was derived by Fredricks and Nelsen [
22] as follows:
The AMH copula is also popular like the FGM copula and it was first presented by Ali, Mikhail, and Haq [
23]. The formula for the Kendall’s and Spearman’s correlation coefficients of the AMH copula are discussed by Kumar [
24] as follows:
- (1)
For , the Kendall’s correlation coefficient is , or approximately .
- (2)
For , the Spearman’s correlation coefficient is = , or approximately .
This study derives important reliability functions, hazard functions, and product moments for the bivariate modified Fréchet–exponential distribution based on the FGM and AMH copulas. We also obtain the moment-generating function for these models, providing additional insights into their properties. Furthermore, we estimate the unknown parameters of both the FGM- and AMH-based models using two estimation methods: Maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) and inference functions for matrices (IFM). The asymptotic confidence intervals for the model parameters are also computed to evaluate the precision of these estimates.
This research aims to explore the usefulness of the modified Fréchet–exponential distribution, in conjunction with the FGM and AMH copulas, for modeling the infection recurrence times of kidney patients using portable dialysis machines, and also for modeling GDP growth with exports of goods and services. The proposed model provides insights into the temporal dynamics of infection recurrence, which can assist medical professionals in anticipating infection risks and optimizing treatment protocols. Additionally, this approach contributes to the growing body of literature on the application of bivariate statistical models in medical case studies, offering a new perspective on handling recurrence data in healthcare settings.
This paper is organized as follows: we present the two bivariate modified Fréchet–exponential distributions based on the FGM and AMH copulas in
Section 2.
Section 3 discusses some statistical features of the bivariate copula distribution, while
Section 4 outlines the parameter estimation methods for the proposed models. The asymptotic confidence intervals are introduced in
Section 5. A simulation study in
Section 6 compares the efficiency of the models and estimation methods.
Section 7 presents the application of real-world data related to the medical and economic fields. Finally,
Section 8 concludes with remarks on the utility of the proposed models for data analysis.
2. Bivariate Modified Fréchet–Exponential Distribution
Using Sklar’s theorem [
17], we obtain the joint cdf and pdf of the BMFE distribution for any copula using Equations (3) and (4) in addition to the cdf and the pdf of the MFE model.
where
. Equations (5) and (6) are utilized to create two BMFE distributions based on the FGM and AMH copulas in the following subsections.
2.1. Survival Functions and Joint Survival Structure
The marginal survival function of the MFE distribution is given by
Using Sklar’s theorem in the survival domain, the joint survival function of the bivariate model is given by
where
is the survival copula defined by
Joint Survival Function for FGM Copula
The survival copula corresponding to the FGM copula is
Hence, the joint survival function of the FGM-based bivariate MFE distribution model becomes
This expression provides a mathematically rigorous and practically useful formulation for analyzing joint reliability in the presence of dependence between marginal lifetimes. A similar approach may be used to derive the joint survival function using the AMH copula.
2.2. FGM Bivariate Modified Fréchet–Exponential (FGMBMFE)
Distribution
Applying the FGM copula transformation described in
Table 1, we obtain the following cdf and pdf functions for the FGMBMFE distribution:
and
respectively, where
and
Figure 1 displays the behavior of the FGMBMFE distribution by presenting the cdf and pdf plots for different combinations of the parameters
, and
, showing the adaptability of the joint cdf and pdf in modeling bivariate skewed data. The graphs were generated using Mathematica 11 by evaluating the closed-form expressions derived in this section. These 3D plots highlight the influence of the parameters on the distribution’s shape and tail behavior.
The joint pdf and cdf of the FGMBMFE distribution displays various shapes depending on the values of its parameters, indicating the joint pdf’s capacity to simulate bivariate skewed data. Although the mathematical properties of the FGMBMFE distributions have been established, it is important to highlight their practical significance. The flexibility introduced through the FGM copula allows the model to capture weak to moderate dependence structures between variables, which are often encountered in reliability engineering and environmental studies. Moreover, the modified Fréchet–exponential marginals enable better modeling of skewed and heavy-tailed data, which cannot be adequately captured by classical exponential or normal models. Therefore, the FGMBMFE distribution provides a useful tool for practitioners seeking models that combine flexibility in marginal behavior with explicit control over dependence, making it valuable for real-world applications where such features are observed.
2.3. AMH Bivariate Modified Fréchet–Exponential (AMHBMFE)
Distribution
Applying the AMH copula transformation described in
Table 1 with Equations (5) and (6), we obtain the following cdf and pdf for the AMHBMFE distribution:
and
respectively, with
,
Figure 2 displays the behavior of the AMHBMFE distribution by presenting the cdf and pdf plots for different combinations of the parameters
, and
, showing the adaptability of the joint cdf and pdf in modeling bivariate skewed data. The graphs were generated using Mathematica 11 by evaluating the closed-form expressions derived in this section. These 3D plots highlight the influence of the parameters on the distribution’s shape and tail behavior.
In addition, the properties of the AMHBMFE distribution offer significant practical advantages. The use of the AMH copula introduces greater flexibility in capturing a wider range of dependence structures, including both positive and negative associations between variables. This flexibility makes the AMHBMFE distribution particularly suitable for modeling real-world datasets where complex, nonlinear dependence patterns are present. Furthermore, modified Fréchet–exponential marginals retain their ability to model skewed and heavy-tailed data, improving the applicability of the distribution to fields such as finance, environmental science, and engineering. Consequently, the AMHBMFE distribution serves as a robust alternative to classical bivariate models, offering both improved marginal behavior and a more adaptable dependence structure.
Since the derivations and properties of the FGMBMFE distribution have been thoroughly presented, and noting the structural similarity between the FGMBMFE and AMHBMFE distributions, which differ mainly in the choice of the copula function (FGM versus AMH), it is deemed sufficient to infer the corresponding properties of the AMHBMFE distribution by analogy. The underlying marginal distributions remain the same, and the main distinction lies in the dependence structure modeled by the AMH copula, which offers greater flexibility. Therefore, detailed derivations for the AMHBMFE distribution are omitted for brevity, without loss of generality.
3. Properties of FGMBMFE Distribution
In this section, we discuss some of the most important statistical properties of the FGMBMFE distribution, including marginal distributions, generating random variables, product moments, and moment-generating and reliability functions.
3.1. Marginal Distributions
The marginal distributions are obtained by modifying the classical Fréchet–exponential distribution to enhance its flexibility and adapt it to a broader range of data characteristics. Specifically, adjustments are made to the original distribution’s scale and shape parameters to allow for greater control over skewness and tail behavior. These modified marginals are then used as the foundational components in the construction of the proposed joint models, wherein the dependence structure between variables is captured using the FGM and AMH copulas, respectively. This approach ensures that both the marginal properties and the dependence behavior are accurately modeled, providing a comprehensive and robust framework for analyzing complex data.
The marginal density functions for
and
, respectively, are
and
which are the modified Fréchet–exponential distribution as shown in Equation (
1).
3.2. Generating Random Variables
Nelsen [
6] discussed how to generate a sample from a given joint distribution. When using the conditional distribution method, the joint distribution function is as follows:
The following steps generate a bivariate sample using the conditional technique:
Generate U and V independently from a uniform distribution.
Set
Set to find by numerical simulation.
Repeat steps 1–3, n times to obtain
3.3. Moment-Generating Function
If the random variable
is distributed as FGMMFE, then the moment-generating function of
is given by
where
and
It must be clarified that the above series converges under the condition that and .
3.4. Product Moments
If the random variable
is distributed as FGMMFE, then its
rth and
sth moments around zero can be expressed as follows:
where
and
These series converge for positive parameter values that are already achieved.
3.5. Reliability Function
According to Osmetti and Chiodini [
25], using the reliability function it is easier to describe a joint survival function as a copula of its marginal survival functions, where
and
are random variables with survival functions
and
. The reliability function of the marginal distributions is defined as
The expression of the joint survival function with copula is defined as follows:
hence, the reliability function of the FGMBMFE distribution is
For the first time, Basu [
26] defined the bivariate hazard rate function as
then, the hazard rate function of FGMBW distribution is written as
6. Simulation Study
In this section, a simulation study is conducted to investigate and analyze the behavior of the parameters of the BMFE distribution based on the FGM and AMH copulas. This study relies on a Monte Carlo simulation that is used to generate random samples, where 1000 samples of size 25, 50, 75, and 125 use three different cases with parameter values as follows:
Case 1: ();
Case 2: ();
Case 3: ().
In this study, the bias, mean squared error (MSE), and the length of asymptotic confidence intervals (L.CIs), and the dependence structure measures are evaluated through simulation. The results are summarized in
Table 2,
Table 3,
Table 4,
Table 5,
Table 6,
Table 7,
Table 8,
Table 9 and
Table 10, and they demonstrate the following findings:
Table 2,
Table 5 and
Table 8 presents the performance of the estimators in terms of bias, MSE, and L.CIs for various sample sizes. As the sample size increases while keeping the vector
fixed, both the MSE and the length of the confidence intervals decrease.
Table 3,
Table 4,
Table 6,
Table 7,
Table 9 and
Table 10 report the minimum, mean, and maximum of Kendall’s and Spearman’s correlation coefficients, respectively, for the FGMBMFE and AMHBMFE distributions under case 1, case 2, and case 3, respectively, with 1000 simulations. These results highlight the behavior of dependence measures across different sample sizes.
Table 5 and
Table 8 compare the IFM and MLE estimation methods. As the sample size increases, the differences in bias and MSE between the two methods diminish, suggesting consistency in the estimation. Despite this, the MLE method consistently yields lower total MSE, indicating superior performance over the IFM method.
The IFM method operates through a two-step procedure—first estimating the marginal parameters, and then estimating the copula parameter using those estimates. However, the MLE method outperforms the IFM approach overall.
The IFM method proves to be an effective estimation approach, utilizing a two-step procedure: first, estimating the parameters of the marginal distributions; and second, subsequently estimating the copula parameter while incorporating the initial marginal estimates. Nevertheless, the MLE method consistently outperforms the IFM method, as evidenced by the lower total mean squared error observed for the MLE estimates compared to those obtained via the IFM approach.
Table 3 and
Table 4 explore the mean, the minimum, and the maximum of the Kendall’s and Spearman’s correlation coefficients for the FGMBMFE and AMHBMFE distributions, respectively, with 1000 simulations and various sample sizes
n within case 1.
Table 5 displays the average estimates of the parameters, mean square errors, biases, and the length of asymptotic confidence intervals (L.CIs) in the case with the following parameters: (
).
Table 6 and
Table 7 present the mean, the minimum, and the maximum of the Kendall’s and Spearman’s correlation coefficients of the FGMBMFE and AMHBMFE distributions, respectively, with 1000 simulations and different sample sizes n within case 2.
Table 8 displays the average estimates of the parameters, mean square errors, biases, and the length of L.CIs in case 3: (
).
Table 9 and
Table 10 explore the mean, the minimum, and the maximum of the correlation coefficient of the Kendall’s and Spearman’s correlation coefficients for the FGMBMFE and AMHBMFE distributions with 1000 simulations and various sample sizes
n, within case 3.
8. Conclusions
This paper introduced two bivariate modified Fréchet–exponential distributions based on the FGM and AMH copulas. A simulation study was carried out to analyze the behavior of the parameters of these distributions. The study revealed that the ranges of the Kendall’s and Spearman’s correlation coefficients for 1000 simulations were influenced by the values of
, as previously noted by Fredricks [
22] and Nelsen [
6] for the FGM copula and by Kumar [
24] for the AMH copula.
To evaluate the performance of the proposed models, two practical datasets were analyzed. The results demonstrated that the BMFE distribution based on the FGM and AMH copulas outperformed the bivariate Lomax exponential distribution and the bivariate weighted exponential distribution based on the same copulas. Additionally, the distributions constructed using the AMH copula provided better results than those based on the FGM copula. It is important to note that the datasets used to illustrate the performance of the proposed FGMBMFE and AMHBMFE distributions exhibit a relatively strong linear dependence structure. To provide a more comprehensive evaluation, the classical bivariate normal distribution, which is known to be particularly suitable for modeling linear relationships, was also included as a competing model. This comparison allowed us to assess whether the proposed models could offer advantages even in scenarios where the linear dependence assumption is most appropriate. Lastly, the results indicated that the MLE approach produced superior outcomes compared with the IFM approach.
In future work, it would be interesting to construct new versions of the proposed distributions by using different copula functions, such as the Clayton or Gumbel copulas, to allow more flexibility in modeling different types of dependence between variables. Another possible extension is to develop multivariate versions (with more than two variables) to cover more complex data situations.