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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$date, episode_days = 60) # indices
#>   [1] 53 18 52 33 48 33 11 63 36 51 38 25 17 19 32 18 28  9 65 43 38 17 51  1 19
#>  [26] 12 35 40 22 10 37 48 49 53 41 19 30  7 54 19 28 25 20 25 14 57  1 47 49 29
#>  [51] 34 66 27 18 10 28 54 51 52  6 34 26  4 35 64 29 32 25 14 35 28 22 27 33 55
#>  [76] 44 45 12 46 13 59 53 46 60 13 41 53 42 10 30 64 18 25 59  3 65 32 44 15 16
#> [101] 58  2 44 23 21 42 26 41 14 17 16 64 25 50  8 11 63 37 30 28 27 52 53  4 25
#> [126] 35 28 45  9  7 61 50  1 53 19  1 58 11 39 21 43  6 24 40  2 63  6 27 16 63
#> [151] 41 36 20 23 57  5 64 47 29 58  2 30 57  8 25 11 15 13 14 52  7 31  1 27 62
#> [176] 65 60 25 29  7  1 56 55 49 65 28 64 33 26 46  1 18 22 64 14 63 10 66 59 13
is_new_episode(df$date, episode_days = 60) # TRUE/FALSE
#>   [1] FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE FALSE
#>  [13] FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE
#>  [25] FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE
#>  [37] FALSE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE
#>  [49]  TRUE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE
#>  [61]  TRUE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE
#>  [73]  TRUE FALSE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE
#>  [85] FALSE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE
#>  [97] FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE
#> [109]  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE
#> [121] FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE
#> [133] FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE  TRUE
#> [145] FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE
#> [157] FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE  TRUE
#> [169] FALSE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE
#> [181] FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE
#> [193] FALSE  TRUE FALSE 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: 1 × 46
#>   date       patient   age gender ward     mo           PEN   OXA   FLC   AMX  
#>   <date>     <chr>   <dbl> <chr>  <chr>    <mo>         <rsi> <rsi> <rsi> <rsi>
#> 1 2002-07-21 955940     82 F      Clinical B_PSDMN_AERG R     NA    NA    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 534091  2015-02-15 C         FALSE      
#>  2 968584  2005-12-29 B         TRUE       
#>  3 419568  2014-10-19 B         FALSE      
#>  4 291882  2010-05-01 C         FALSE      
#>  5 A97263  2013-11-23 B         FALSE      
#>  6 192353  2010-04-05 B         FALSE      
#>  7 189363  2004-06-22 A         FALSE      
#>  8 422833  2017-03-21 B         FALSE      
#>  9 C34429  2011-01-02 A         FALSE      
#> 10 C11627  2014-09-11 A         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 [182]
#>    ward     date       patient new_index new_logical
#>    <chr>    <date>     <chr>       <dbl> <lgl>      
#>  1 Clinical 2015-02-15 534091          1 TRUE       
#>  2 Clinical 2005-12-29 968584          1 TRUE       
#>  3 Clinical 2014-10-19 419568          1 TRUE       
#>  4 Clinical 2010-05-01 291882          1 TRUE       
#>  5 Clinical 2013-11-23 A97263          1 TRUE       
#>  6 Clinical 2010-04-05 192353          1 TRUE       
#>  7 Clinical 2004-06-22 189363          1 TRUE       
#>  8 ICU      2017-03-21 422833          1 TRUE       
#>  9 ICU      2011-01-02 C34429          1 TRUE       
#> 10 Clinical 2014-09-11 C11627          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          124             14            54            72
#> 2 ICU                48             13            33            39
#> 3 Outpatient         10              7             9             9
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 534091  B_ESCHR_COLI Clinical TRUE        
#>  2 968584  B_PSDMN_AERG Clinical TRUE        
#>  3 419568  B_STRPT_PNMN Clinical TRUE        
#>  4 291882  B_STPHY_EPDR Clinical TRUE        
#>  5 A97263  B_KLBSL_PNMN Clinical TRUE        
#>  6 192353  B_STRPT_PNMN Clinical TRUE        
#>  7 189363  B_STPHY_AURS Clinical TRUE        
#>  8 422833  B_STPHY_EPDR ICU      TRUE        
#>  9 C34429  B_ESCHR_COLI ICU      TRUE        
#> 10 C11627  B_STRPT_GRPC Clinical TRUE        
#> # … with 190 more rows
# }