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These functions determine which items in a vector can be considered (the start of) a new episode, based on the argument episode_days. This can be used to determine clinical episodes for any epidemiological analysis. The get_episode() function returns the index number of the episode per group, while the is_new_episode() function returns values TRUE/FALSE to indicate whether an item in a vector is the start of a new episode.

Usage

get_episode(x, episode_days, ...)

is_new_episode(x, episode_days, ...)

Arguments

x

vector of dates (class Date or POSIXt), will be sorted internally to determine episodes

episode_days

required episode length in days, can also be less than a day or Inf, see Details

...

ignored, only in place to allow future extensions

Value

  • get_episode(): a double vector

  • is_new_episode(): a logical vector

Details

Dates are first sorted from old to new. The oldest date will mark the start of the first episode. After this date, the next date will be marked that is at least episode_days days later than the start of the first episode. From that second marked date on, the next date will be marked that is at least episode_days days later than the start of the second episode which will be the start of the third episode, and so on. Before the vector is being returned, the original order will be restored.

The first_isolate() function is a wrapper around the is_new_episode() function, but is more efficient for data sets containing microorganism codes or names and allows for different isolate selection methods.

The dplyr package is not required for these functions to work, but these functions do support variable grouping and work conveniently inside dplyr verbs such as filter(), mutate() and summarise().

See also

Examples

# `example_isolates` is a data set available in the AMR package.
# See ?example_isolates
df <- example_isolates[sample(seq_len(2000), size = 200), ]

get_episode(df$date, episode_days = 60) # indices
#>   [1] 23  4 57 10 24 33 54 46 15 13 52  3 46 30 17 43 31 50 27  6 44 18  9 40 36
#>  [26]  5 32 49 49  9 23 27  8  8 22 53 26 58  1 59 49 59  5 35 22 11 43 60 54 13
#>  [51] 51 26 18 43  2 22 47 28 36 22 15  1 40 23 41 34 60 32 45  9 51 21 50 24 35
#>  [76] 42 26 29 58 31 13 59  4 55 38 10 19 54 29  7 53 50 55 15 40  4 46 55 61  9
#> [101] 14 43 54 45 54 10 23 55 18 48  9 33 29  7  6 41 39 28 59  7 62  6 41 57 32
#> [126] 60 41 35 37 15 45 49 24 36 10 25 22 20 52 14 62  8  6 42 60 12 41 14 32 21
#> [151] 59 58  9 13 13 21 36  3 49 12  1  9 57  3 17 23 14 13 62 56 57 40  6 13 15
#> [176] 19 57 24 47 59 20 61 46 54 58 48 30 39  4 32 42 25  4 22 20 56  3 16 44 11
is_new_episode(df$date, episode_days = 60) # TRUE/FALSE
#>   [1]  TRUE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE
#>  [13]  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE
#>  [25] FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE  TRUE
#>  [37]  TRUE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE
#>  [49] FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE
#>  [61]  TRUE FALSE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE
#>  [73]  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE
#>  [85]  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE
#>  [97] FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE
#> [109]  TRUE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE
#> [121] FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE
#> [133]  TRUE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE  TRUE
#> [145] FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE
#> [157]  TRUE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE FALSE
#> [169] FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE
#> [181]  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE
#> [193] FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE

# filter on results from the third 60-day episode only, using base R
df[which(get_episode(df$date, 60) == 3), ]
#> # A tibble: 4 × 46
#>   date       patient   age gender ward     mo           PEN   OXA   FLC   AMX  
#>   <date>     <chr>   <dbl> <chr>  <chr>    <mo>         <rsi> <rsi> <rsi> <rsi>
#> 1 2002-08-31 149442     80 F      ICU      B_STPHY_AURS R     NA    S     R    
#> 2 2002-09-24 CF9318     29 M      ICU      B_CMPYL_JEJN NA    NA    NA    NA   
#> 3 2002-10-11 871360     78 M      Clinical B_STPHY_EPDR R     NA    S     NA   
#> 4 2002-08-28 390178     57 M      Clinical B_STRPT_SLVR S     NA    NA    S    
#> # … with 36 more variables: AMC <rsi>, AMP <rsi>, TZP <rsi>, CZO <rsi>,
#> #   FEP <rsi>, CXM <rsi>, FOX <rsi>, CTX <rsi>, CAZ <rsi>, CRO <rsi>,
#> #   GEN <rsi>, TOB <rsi>, AMK <rsi>, KAN <rsi>, TMP <rsi>, SXT <rsi>,
#> #   NIT <rsi>, FOS <rsi>, LNZ <rsi>, CIP <rsi>, MFX <rsi>, VAN <rsi>,
#> #   TEC <rsi>, TCY <rsi>, TGC <rsi>, DOX <rsi>, ERY <rsi>, CLI <rsi>,
#> #   AZM <rsi>, IPM <rsi>, MEM <rsi>, MTR <rsi>, CHL <rsi>, COL <rsi>,
#> #   MUP <rsi>, RIF <rsi>

# the functions also work for less than a day, e.g. to include one per hour:
get_episode(c(
  Sys.time(),
  Sys.time() + 60 * 60
),
episode_days = 1 / 24
)
#> [1] 1 2

# \donttest{
if (require("dplyr")) {
  # is_new_episode() can also be used in dplyr verbs to determine patient
  # episodes based on any (combination of) grouping variables:
  df %>%
    mutate(condition = sample(
      x = c("A", "B", "C"),
      size = 200,
      replace = TRUE
    )) %>%
    group_by(condition) %>%
    mutate(new_episode = is_new_episode(date, 365)) %>%
    select(patient, date, condition, new_episode)
}
#> # A tibble: 200 × 4
#> # Groups:   condition [3]
#>    patient date       condition new_episode
#>    <chr>   <date>     <chr>     <lgl>      
#>  1 403631  2007-07-31 C         FALSE      
#>  2 304347  2002-11-04 C         FALSE      
#>  3 964129  2016-06-21 A         FALSE      
#>  4 189363  2004-03-17 C         FALSE      
#>  5 80C025  2007-11-13 A         FALSE      
#>  6 284FFF  2010-03-31 A         FALSE      
#>  7 A76045  2015-10-06 C         FALSE      
#>  8 959835  2013-11-16 B         FALSE      
#>  9 277241  2005-09-01 C         FALSE      
#> 10 696587  2004-11-16 C         FALSE      
#> # … with 190 more rows
if (require("dplyr")) {
  df %>%
    group_by(ward, patient) %>%
    transmute(date,
      patient,
      new_index = get_episode(date, 60),
      new_logical = is_new_episode(date, 60)
    )
}
#> # A tibble: 200 × 5
#> # Groups:   ward, patient [179]
#>    ward     date       patient new_index new_logical
#>    <chr>    <date>     <chr>       <dbl> <lgl>      
#>  1 Clinical 2007-07-31 403631          1 TRUE       
#>  2 Clinical 2002-11-04 304347          1 TRUE       
#>  3 Clinical 2016-06-21 964129          1 TRUE       
#>  4 Clinical 2004-03-17 189363          1 TRUE       
#>  5 Clinical 2007-11-13 80C025          1 TRUE       
#>  6 Clinical 2010-03-31 284FFF          1 TRUE       
#>  7 ICU      2015-10-06 A76045          1 TRUE       
#>  8 Clinical 2013-11-16 959835          1 TRUE       
#>  9 ICU      2005-09-01 277241          1 TRUE       
#> 10 ICU      2004-11-16 696587          1 FALSE      
#> # … with 190 more rows
if (require("dplyr")) {
  df %>%
    group_by(ward) %>%
    summarise(
      n_patients = n_distinct(patient),
      n_episodes_365 = sum(is_new_episode(date, episode_days = 365)),
      n_episodes_60 = sum(is_new_episode(date, episode_days = 60)),
      n_episodes_30 = sum(is_new_episode(date, episode_days = 30))
    )
}
#> # A tibble: 3 × 5
#>   ward       n_patients n_episodes_365 n_episodes_60 n_episodes_30
#>   <chr>           <int>          <int>         <int>         <int>
#> 1 Clinical          112             14            57            81
#> 2 ICU                53             13            37            44
#> 3 Outpatient         14              8            11            12
if (require("dplyr")) {

  # grouping on patients and microorganisms leads to the same
  # results as first_isolate() when using 'episode-based':
  x <- df %>%
    filter_first_isolate(
      include_unknown = TRUE,
      method = "episode-based"
    )

  y <- df %>%
    group_by(patient, mo) %>%
    filter(is_new_episode(date, 365)) %>%
    ungroup()

  identical(x, y)
}
#> Including isolates from ICU.
#> [1] FALSE
if (require("dplyr")) {

  # but is_new_episode() has a lot more flexibility than first_isolate(),
  # since you can now group on anything that seems relevant:
  df %>%
    group_by(patient, mo, ward) %>%
    mutate(flag_episode = is_new_episode(date, 365)) %>%
    select(group_vars(.), flag_episode)
}
#> # A tibble: 200 × 4
#> # Groups:   patient, mo, ward [186]
#>    patient mo           ward     flag_episode
#>    <chr>   <mo>         <chr>    <lgl>       
#>  1 403631  B_ESCHR_COLI Clinical TRUE        
#>  2 304347  B_STRPT_PNMN Clinical TRUE        
#>  3 964129  B_SERRT_MRCS Clinical TRUE        
#>  4 189363  B_STPHY_AURS Clinical TRUE        
#>  5 80C025  B_ESCHR_COLI Clinical TRUE        
#>  6 284FFF  B_STPHY_EPDR Clinical TRUE        
#>  7 A76045  B_STPHY_EPDR ICU      TRUE        
#>  8 959835  B_STPHY_EPDR Clinical TRUE        
#>  9 277241  B_STPHY_AURS ICU      TRUE        
#> 10 696587  B_ESCHR_COLI ICU      FALSE       
#> # … with 190 more rows
# }