 Common versus factor-specific slopes in Poisson regression

For a continuous predictor $x$ and a categorical factor, an additive Poisson regression with log link has $\log {\mu }_j(x)=a_j+bx$. The log-mean curves are parallel and ${\mu }_j(x)/{\mu }_k(x)=e^{a_j-a_k}$ is constant in $x$. Adding a predictor-by-factor interaction gives $\log {\mu }_j(x)=a_j+b_{j}x$, so this ratio becomes $e^{a_j-a_k+(b_j-b_k)x}$. With $J$ factor levels, the common-slope restriction has $J-1$ independent constraints. A likelihood-ratio test compares the two deviances with an asymptotic chi-squared distribution on $J-1$ degrees of freedom. Evidence against common slopes establishes varying effects on the log scale; it does not by itself determine their signs or the ordering of the mean curves.