| cluster {survival} | R Documentation | 
This is a special function used in the context of survival models.  It 
identifies correlated groups of observations, and is used on the right hand 
side of a formula.
Using cluster() in a formula implies that
robust sandwich variance estimators are desired.
cluster(x)
x | 
 A character, factor, or numeric variable.  | 
The function's only action is semantic, to mark a variable as the cluster indicator. The resulting variance is what is known as the “working independence” variance in a GEE model.
x 
marginal.model <- coxph(Surv(time, status) ~ rx + cluster(litter), rats) frailty.model <- coxph(Surv(time, status) ~ rx + frailty(litter), rats)