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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$date, episode_days = 60) # indices
#>   [1] 44 49 56  3 47 61  4  6 14 60 50 34  8 28 25 60 61  8 37 29 11  9 22 27  7
#>  [26] 35 56 52 12 49 11 43  6 34 39  8 56 23 39 10 45 28  5 48  2 25 45 57 14 33
#>  [51] 32 46  8 59 27 56 39 35  9  6  1 49 40 26 44 12 18 34 54  7  8  2 27  7 36
#>  [76] 40 52  2 10 52 63 12 35  2 41 26 40 60 31  6 53 23 58 30 46 19  7 22 54 22
#> [101] 33 63 27 45 12 60 59 61 36 24 17  8 15 17 25 22 56  6 23 36 62 55  4 22 43
#> [126] 52 38 13 20 26 59  8  9 37 27  8 35 14 60 37 43  1 52 22 17 61 50 20 47 49
#> [151] 50 60 61  5 61 16 46 24 55 17 56 42 60 33  4 47 34 18  6 51 29 60 47 53 12
#> [176] 16 56 56  1  4 34 27 23 50 10 30 58  3 10 13 49 60 56 57 21 22 19 15 25  6
is_new_episode(df$date, episode_days = 60) # TRUE/FALSE
#>   [1]  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE
#>  [13] FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE
#>  [25] FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE
#>  [37] FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE
#>  [49] FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE
#>  [61] FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE
#>  [73] FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE  TRUE
#>  [85]  TRUE FALSE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE
#>  [97]  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE
#> [109] FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE
#> [121]  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE
#> [133] FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE  TRUE
#> [145] FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE
#> [157]  TRUE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE
#> [169]  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE
#> [181] FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE
#> [193] FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE

# filter on results from the third 60-day episode only, using base R
df[which(get_episode(df$date, 60) == 3), ]
#> # A tibble: 2 × 46
#>   date       patient   age gender ward     mo           PEN   OXA   FLC   AMX  
#>   <date>     <chr>   <dbl> <chr>  <chr>    <mo>         <rsi> <rsi> <rsi> <rsi>
#> 1 2002-08-19 A49852     70 M      Clinical B_ESCHR_COLI R     NA    NA    NA   
#> 2 2002-07-15 C42193     84 M      ICU      B_STPHY_HMNS R     NA    R     R    
#> # … 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 3B8892  2012-06-11 A         FALSE      
#>  2 835073  2013-09-27 B         TRUE       
#>  3 375975  2015-11-19 C         FALSE      
#>  4 A49852  2002-08-19 C         FALSE      
#>  5 660761  2013-03-05 A         FALSE      
#>  6 BF4515  2017-06-12 C         FALSE      
#>  7 956065  2002-11-18 C         FALSE      
#>  8 F35553  2003-09-05 A         FALSE      
#>  9 904485  2005-04-18 B         FALSE      
#> 10 5F7C80  2017-03-20 B         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 [181]
#>    ward     date       patient new_index new_logical
#>    <chr>    <date>     <chr>       <dbl> <lgl>      
#>  1 Clinical 2012-06-11 3B8892          1 TRUE       
#>  2 Clinical 2013-09-27 835073          1 TRUE       
#>  3 Clinical 2015-11-19 375975          1 TRUE       
#>  4 Clinical 2002-08-19 A49852          1 TRUE       
#>  5 Clinical 2013-03-05 660761          1 TRUE       
#>  6 ICU      2017-06-12 BF4515          1 TRUE       
#>  7 Clinical 2002-11-18 956065          1 TRUE       
#>  8 ICU      2003-09-05 F35553          2 FALSE      
#>  9 ICU      2005-04-18 904485          1 TRUE       
#> 10 Clinical 2017-03-20 5F7C80          1 TRUE       
#> # … 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          117             15            58            72
#> 2 ICU                51             12            34            40
#> 3 Outpatient         13              7            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 [190]
#>    patient mo            ward     flag_episode
#>    <chr>   <mo>          <chr>    <lgl>       
#>  1 3B8892  B_ESCHR_COLI  Clinical TRUE        
#>  2 835073  B_STPHY_HMNS  Clinical TRUE        
#>  3 375975  B_STPHY_AURS  Clinical TRUE        
#>  4 A49852  B_ESCHR_COLI  Clinical TRUE        
#>  5 660761  B_STRPT_DYSG  Clinical TRUE        
#>  6 BF4515  B_ENTRC_FACM  ICU      TRUE        
#>  7 956065  B_ESCHR_COLI  Clinical TRUE        
#>  8 F35553  B_ENTRBC_CLOC ICU      FALSE       
#>  9 904485  B_STRPT_ANGN  ICU      TRUE        
#> 10 5F7C80  B_STPHY_AURS  Clinical TRUE        
#> # … with 190 more rows
# }