Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30403578›Full record

ArticleMedical decision making : an international journal of the Society for Medical Decision Making2018

Simple Inclusion of Complex Diagnostic Algorithms in Infectious Disease Models for Economic Evaluation.

Peter J Dodd, Jeff J Pennington, Liza Bronner Murrison, David W Dowdy

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Medical decision making : an international journal of the Society for Medical Decision Making, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Peter J DoddSchool of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK (PJD).ORCID 0000-0001-5825-9347
Jeff J PenningtonSchool of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK (PJD).
Liza Bronner MurrisonSchool of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK (PJD).
David W DowdySchool of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK (PJD).

Funding

A User-Friendly Epidemic-Economic Model of Diagnostic Tests for TuberculosisR21AI101152 · NIAID · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · PI DOWDY, DAVID WESLEY · 2012 to 2013
$433k
Medical Research Council MR/P022081/1NIAID NIH HHS R21 AI101152
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionCost-effectiveness models for infectious disease interventions often require transmission models that capture the indirect benefits from averted subsequent infections. Compartmental models based on ordinary differential equations are commonly used in this context. Decision trees are frequently used in cost-effectiveness modeling and are well suited to describing diagnostic algorithms. However, complex decision trees are laborious to specify as compartmental models and cumbersome to adapt, limiting the detail of algorithms typically included in transmission models.

methodsWe consider an approximation replacing a decision tree with a single holding state for systems where the time scale of the diagnostic algorithm is shorter than time scales associated with disease progression or transmission. We describe recursive algorithms for calculating the outcomes and mean costs and delays associated with decision trees, as well as design strategies for computational implementation. We assess the performance of the approximation in a simple model of transmission/diagnosis and its role in simplifying a model of tuberculosis diagnostics.

resultsWhen diagnostic delays were short relative to recovery rates, our approximation provided a good account of infection dynamics and the cumulative costs of diagnosis and treatment. Proportional errors were below 5% so long as the longest delay in our 2-step algorithm was under 20% of the recovery time scale. Specifying new diagnostic algorithms in our tuberculosis model was reduced from several tens to just a few lines of code. DISCUSSION: For conditions characterized by a diagnostic process that is neither instantaneous nor protracted (relative to transmission dynamics), this novel approach retains the advantages of decision trees while embedding them in more complex models of disease transmission. Concise specification and code reuse increase transparency and reduce potential for error.

Indexed as

AlgorithmsCommunicable Disease ControlCommunicable DiseasesCost-Benefit AnalysisDecision Support TechniquesHumansModels, EconomicTime FactorsTime-to-TreatmentTuberculosiscomputational techniquescost-effectivenessdecision treesdiagnostic algorithmsinfectious diseasestransmission models

Identifiers

PMID30403578
PMCPMC6711160

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.