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Run simulations in parallel mode (at the simulation level)

Usage

run_sim_parallel(
  arm_list = c("int", "noint"),
  sensitivity_inputs = NULL,
  common_all_inputs = NULL,
  common_pt_inputs = NULL,
  unique_pt_inputs = NULL,
  init_event_list = NULL,
  evt_react_list = evt_react_list,
  util_ongoing_list = NULL,
  util_instant_list = NULL,
  util_cycle_list = NULL,
  cost_ongoing_list = NULL,
  cost_instant_list = NULL,
  cost_cycle_list = NULL,
  other_ongoing_list = NULL,
  other_instant_list = NULL,
  npats = 500,
  n_sim = 1,
  psa_bool = NULL,
  sensitivity_bool = FALSE,
  sensitivity_names = NULL,
  n_sensitivity = 1,
  ncores = 1,
  input_out = NULL,
  ipd = 1,
  timed_freq = NULL,
  debug = FALSE,
  accum_backwards = FALSE,
  continue_on_error = FALSE,
  seed = NULL
)

Arguments

arm_list

A vector of the names of the interventions evaluated in the simulation

sensitivity_inputs

A list of sensitivity inputs that do not change within a sensitivity in a similar fashion to common_all_inputs, etc

common_all_inputs

A list of inputs common across patients that do not change within a simulation

common_pt_inputs

A list of inputs that change across patients but are not affected by the intervention

unique_pt_inputs

A list of inputs that change across each intervention

init_event_list

A list of initial events and event times. If no initial events are given, a "Start" event at time 0 is created automatically

evt_react_list

A list of event reactions

util_ongoing_list

Vector of QALY named variables that are accrued at an ongoing basis (discounted using drq)

util_instant_list

Vector of QALY named variables that are accrued instantaneously at an event (discounted using drq)

util_cycle_list

Vector of QALY named variables that are accrued in cycles (discounted using drq)

cost_ongoing_list

Vector of cost named variables that are accrued at an ongoing basis (discounted using drc)

cost_instant_list

Vector of cost named variables that are accrued instantaneously at an event (discounted using drc)

cost_cycle_list

Vector of cost named variables that are accrued in cycles (discounted using drc)

other_ongoing_list

Vector of other named variables that are accrued at an ongoing basis (discounted using drq)

other_instant_list

Vector of other named variables that are accrued instantaneously at an event (discounted using drq)

npats

The number of patients to be simulated (it will simulate npats * length(arm_list))

n_sim

The number of simulations to run per sensitivity

psa_bool

A boolean to determine if PSA should be conducted. If n_sim > 1 and psa_bool = FALSE, the differences between simulations will be due to sampling

sensitivity_bool

A boolean to determine if Scenarios/DSA should be conducted.

sensitivity_names

A vector of scenario/DSA names that can be used to select the right sensitivity (e.g., c("Scenario_1", "Scenario_2")). The parameter "sens_name_used" is created from it which corresponds to the one being used for each iteration.

n_sensitivity

Number of sensitivity analysis (DSA or Scenarios) to run. It will be interacted with sensitivity_names argument if not null (n_sensitivityitivity = n_sensitivity * length(sensitivity_names)). For DSA, it should be as many parameters as there are. For scenario, it should be 1.

ncores

The number of cores to use for parallel computing

input_out

A vector of variables to be returned in the output data frame

ipd

Integer taking value 0 if no IPD data returned, 1 for full IPD data returned, and 2 IPD data but aggregating events

timed_freq

If NULL, it does not produce any timed outputs. Otherwise should be a number (e.g., every 1 year)

debug

If TRUE, will generate a log file

accum_backwards

If TRUE, the ongoing accumulators will count backwards (i.e., the current value is applied until the previous update). If FALSE, the current value is applied between the current event and the next time it is updated.

continue_on_error

If TRUE, on error at patient stage will attempt to continue to the next simulation (only works if n_sim and/or n_sensitivity are > 1, not at the patient level)

seed

Starting seed to be used for the whole analysis. If null, it's set to 1 by default.

Value

A list of lists with the analysis results

Details

This function is slightly different from run_sim. run_sim allows to run single-core. run_sim_parallel allows to use multiple-core at the simulation level, making it more efficient for a large number of simulations relative to run_sim (e.g., for PSA).

Event ties are processed in the order declared within the init_event_list argument (evts argument within the first sublist of that object). To do so, the program automatically adds a sequence from to 0 to the (number of events - 1) times 1e-10 to add to the event times when selecting the event with minimum time. This time has been selected as it's relatively small yet not so small as to be ignored by which.min (see .Machine for more details)

A list of protected objects that should not be used by the user as input names or in the global environment to avoid the risk of overwriting them is as follows: c("arm", "arm_list", "categories_for_export", "cur_evtlist", "curtime", "evt", "i", "prevtime", "sens", "simulation", "sens_name_used","list_env","uc_lists","npats","ipd").

The engine uses the L'Ecuyer-CMRG for the random number generator. Note that if ncores > 1, then results per simulation will only be exactly replicable if using run_sim_parallel (as seeds are automatically transformed to be seven integer seeds -i.e, L'Ecuyer-CMRG seeds-)

If no drc or drq parameters are passed within any of the input lists, these are assigned value 0.03. Note that the random seeds are set to be unique in their category (i.e., at patient level, patient-arm level, etc.)

Ongoing items will look backward to the last time updated when performing the discounting and accumulation. This means that the user does not necessarily need to keep updating the value, but only add it when the value changes looking forward (e.g., o_q = utility at event 1, at event 2 utility does not change, but at event 3 it does, so we want to make sure to add o_q = utility at event 3 before updating utility. The program will automatically look back until event 1). Note that in previous versions of the package backward was the default, and now this has switched to forward.

If the cycle lists are used, then it is expected the user will declare as well the name of the variable pasted with cycle_l and cycle_starttime (e.g., c_default_cycle_l and c_default_cycle_starttime) to ensure the discounting can be computed using cycles, with cycle_l being the cycle length, and cycle_starttime being the starting time in which the variable started counting.

debug = TRUE will export a log file with the timestamp up the error in the main working directory. If continue_on_error is set to FALSE, it will only export analysis level inputs due to the parallel engine (use single-engine for those inputs)

continue_on_error will skip the current simulation (so it won't continue for the rest of patient-arms) if TRUE. Note that this will make the progress bar not correct, as a set of patients that were expected to be run is not.

Examples

library(magrittr)
common_all_inputs <-add_item(
util.sick = 0.8,
util.sicker = 0.5,
cost.sick = 3000,
cost.sicker = 7000,
cost.int = 1000,
coef_noint = log(0.2),
HR_int = 0.8,
drc = 0.035, #different values than what's assumed by default
drq = 0.035,
random_seed_sicker_i = sample.int(100000,5,replace = FALSE)
)

common_pt_inputs <- add_item(death= max(0.0000001,rnorm(n=1, mean=12, sd=3))) 

unique_pt_inputs <- add_item(fl.sick = 1,
                             q_default = util.sick,
                             c_default = cost.sick + if(arm=="int"){cost.int}else{0}) 
                             
init_event_list <- 
add_tte(arm=c("noint","int"), evts = c("sick","sicker","death") ,input={
  sick <- 0
  sicker <- draw_tte(1,dist="exp",
   coef1=coef_noint, beta_tx = ifelse(arm=="int",HR_int,1),
   seed = random_seed_sicker_i[i])
  
})   

evt_react_list <-
add_reactevt(name_evt = "sick",
             input = {}) %>%
  add_reactevt(name_evt = "sicker",
               input = {
                 modify_item(list(q_default = util.sicker,
                                  c_default = cost.sicker + if(arm=="int"){cost.int}else{0},
                                  fl.sick = 0)) 
               }) %>%
  add_reactevt(name_evt = "death",
               input = {
                 modify_item(list(q_default = 0,
                                  c_default = 0, 
                                  curtime = Inf)) 
               }) 
               
util_ongoing <- "q_default"
cost_ongoing <- "c_default"
                          

run_sim_parallel(arm_list=c("int","noint"),
common_all_inputs = common_all_inputs,
common_pt_inputs = common_pt_inputs,
unique_pt_inputs = unique_pt_inputs,
init_event_list = init_event_list,
evt_react_list = evt_react_list,
util_ongoing_list = util_ongoing,
cost_ongoing_list = cost_ongoing,
npats = 2,
n_sim = 1,
psa_bool = FALSE,
ipd = 1,
ncores = 1)
#> Analysis number: 1
#> Loading required package: foreach
#> Loading required package: future
#> Simulation number: 1
#> Time to run analysis 1: 0.15s
#> Total time to run: 0.15s
#> [[1]]
#> [[1]][[1]]
#> [[1]][[1]]$sensitivity_name
#> [1] ""
#> 
#> [[1]][[1]]$arm_list
#> [1] "int"   "noint"
#> 
#> [[1]][[1]]$total_lys
#>      int    noint 
#> 9.046874 9.046874 
#> 
#> [[1]][[1]]$total_qalys
#>      int    noint 
#> 6.207438 6.181151 
#> 
#> [[1]][[1]]$total_costs
#>      int    noint 
#> 49921.64 41225.25 
#> 
#> [[1]][[1]]$total_lys_undisc
#>      int    noint 
#> 10.89866 10.89866 
#> 
#> [[1]][[1]]$total_qalys_undisc
#>      int    noint 
#> 7.501176 7.474146 
#> 
#> [[1]][[1]]$total_costs_undisc
#>      int    noint 
#> 59831.36 49293.10 
#> 
#> [[1]][[1]]$c_default
#>      int    noint 
#> 49921.64 41225.25 
#> 
#> [[1]][[1]]$c_default_undisc
#>      int    noint 
#> 59831.36 49293.10 
#> 
#> [[1]][[1]]$q_default
#>      int    noint 
#> 6.207438 6.181151 
#> 
#> [[1]][[1]]$q_default_undisc
#>      int    noint 
#> 7.501176 7.474146 
#> 
#> [[1]][[1]]$merged_df
#> Index: <arm>
#>     evtname    evttime  prevtime pat_id    arm total_lys total_qalys
#>      <char>      <num>     <num>  <int> <char>     <num>       <num>
#>  1:    sick  0.0000000 0.0000000      1    int 10.339480    8.271584
#>  2:   death 12.7779512 0.0000000      1    int 10.339480    8.271584
#>  3:    sick  0.0000000 0.0000000      2    int  7.754267    4.143293
#>  4:  sicker  0.9010175 0.0000000      2    int  7.754267    4.143293
#>  5:   death  9.0193725 0.9010175      2    int  7.754267    4.143293
#>  6:    sick  0.0000000 0.0000000      1  noint 10.339480    8.271584
#>  7:   death 12.7779512 0.0000000      1  noint 10.339480    8.271584
#>  8:    sick  0.0000000 0.0000000      2  noint  7.754267    4.090719
#>  9:  sicker  0.7208140 0.0000000      2  noint  7.754267    4.090719
#> 10:   death  9.0193725 0.7208140      2  noint  7.754267    4.090719
#>     total_costs total_costs_undisc total_qalys_undisc total_lys_undisc
#>           <num>              <num>              <num>            <num>
#>  1:    41357.92           51111.80          10.222361        12.777951
#>  2:    41357.92           51111.80          10.222361        12.777951
#>  3:    58485.35           68550.91           4.779991         9.019372
#>  4:    58485.35           68550.91           4.779991         9.019372
#>  5:    58485.35           68550.91           4.779991         9.019372
#>  6:    31018.44           38333.85          10.222361        12.777951
#>  7:    31018.44           38333.85          10.222361        12.777951
#>  8:    51432.07           60252.35           4.725930         9.019372
#>  9:    51432.07           60252.35           4.725930         9.019372
#> 10:    51432.07           60252.35           4.725930         9.019372
#>            lys     qalys     costs lys_undisc qalys_undisc costs_undisc
#>          <num>     <num>     <num>      <num>        <num>        <num>
#>  1: 10.3394801 8.2715841 41357.920 12.7779512   10.2223609    51111.805
#>  2:  0.0000000 0.0000000     0.000  0.0000000    0.0000000        0.000
#>  3:  0.8871965 0.7097572  3548.786  0.9010175    0.7208140     3604.070
#>  4:  6.8670706 3.4335353 54936.565  8.1183550    4.0591775    64946.840
#>  5:  0.0000000 0.0000000     0.000  0.0000000    0.0000000        0.000
#>  6: 10.3394801 8.2715841 31018.440 12.7779512   10.2223609    38333.854
#>  7:  0.0000000 0.0000000     0.000  0.0000000    0.0000000        0.000
#>  8:  0.7119504 0.5695603  2135.851  0.7208140    0.5766512     2162.442
#>  9:  7.0423168 3.5211584 49296.218  8.2985585    4.1492793    58089.910
#> 10:  0.0000000 0.0000000     0.000  0.0000000    0.0000000        0.000
#>     c_default q_default c_default_undisc q_default_undisc   nexttime simulation
#>         <num>     <num>            <num>            <num>      <num>      <int>
#>  1: 41357.920 8.2715841        51111.805       10.2223609 12.7779512          1
#>  2:     0.000 0.0000000            0.000        0.0000000 12.7779512          1
#>  3:  3548.786 0.7097572         3604.070        0.7208140  0.9010175          1
#>  4: 54936.565 3.4335353        64946.840        4.0591775  9.0193725          1
#>  5:     0.000 0.0000000            0.000        0.0000000  9.0193725          1
#>  6: 31018.440 8.2715841        38333.854       10.2223609 12.7779512          1
#>  7:     0.000 0.0000000            0.000        0.0000000 12.7779512          1
#>  8:  2135.851 0.5695603         2162.442        0.5766512  0.7208140          1
#>  9: 49296.218 3.5211584        58089.910        4.1492793  9.0193725          1
#> 10:     0.000 0.0000000            0.000        0.0000000  9.0193725          1
#>     sensitivity
#>           <int>
#>  1:           1
#>  2:           1
#>  3:           1
#>  4:           1
#>  5:           1
#>  6:           1
#>  7:           1
#>  8:           1
#>  9:           1
#> 10:           1
#> 
#> 
#>