{vaccineff 1.0.0}
refactors the package's internal structure for better
maintainability.
-
estimate_vaccineff()
replaceseffectiveness()
.- It returns an object of class
vaccineff
. - The
at
parameter must always be provided for accurate results.
- It returns an object of class
-
plot.vaccineff_data()
replacesplot_coverage()
. -
cohortdata
has been simplified and reduced to improve examples and reduce computation time.
{vaccineff 0.0.4}
simplifies data handling by using
linelist
objects. Tags are
assigned to the outcome, censoring, and vaccine dates using the function
make_vaccineff_data()
, reducing redundancy in function input parameters.
The new pipeline includes the following three functions and complementary
methods: summary
and plot
.
-
make_vaccineff_data()
: This function returns an S3 object of the classvaccineff_data()
with the study's relevant information. It also allows the creation of a matched cohort to control for confounding variables by settingmatch = TRUE
and passing the appropriateexact
andnearest
arguments. The methodsummary()
can be used to check cohort characteristics, matching balance, and the sizes of matched, excluded, and removed populations. -
plot_coverage()
: This function returns a plot of the vaccine coverage or cumulative coverage. If the population is matched, the plot includes the resulting count of doses after matching. -
effectiveness()
: This function provides methods for estimating VE using the$HR$ . A summary of the estimation is available viasummary()
, and a graphical representation of the methodology is generated byplot()
.
The following functions are no longer accessible to users, but they are called
within make_vaccineff_data()
:
make_immunization()
match_cohort()
The plot()
method returns log-log
and survival
type plots when receiving
an object of type effectiveness
. This deprecates the functions plot_survival()
and plot_loglog()
.
This version introduces an iterative matching routine within match_cohort()
.
After adjusting the exposure times of the pairs, new pairs are created between
the removed ones and the unmatched population. The new matches with inconsistent
exposure times are removed again, and the procedure is repeated until no new
pairs can be made. The usage of all the functions remains unchanged by this update.
The number of functions and steps for computing vaccine effectiveness has
been drastically reduced in {vaccineff 0.0.2}
. The new pipeline for
estimation now consists of three main functions:
-
make_immunization()
: Prepares information on immunization dates and vaccine status. It can handle multiple columns for vaccine dates and custom vaccine statuses. In such cases, it returns the name of the column selected as immunizing and the custom name, if provided. -
match_cohort()
: This function has been improved and generalized to reduce observation bias in cohorts. The default matching strategy is static, based on nearest and exact characteristics using Mahalanobis distance. The exposure times of the pairs are adjusted after matching. In future releases, rolling calendar matching will be introduced as a more accurate method to account for exposure times. The function returns an S3 object of classmatch
, from which a summary and balance of the cohorts can be printed using thesummary()
method. The matched cohort can be extracted using theget_dataset()
method. The matched cohort contains all the necessary information to estimate vaccine effectiveness. -
effectiveness()
: Receives a (matched) cohort and estimates vaccine effectiveness using the Hazard Ratio (HR). An S3 object of classeffectiveness
is returned, compatible with theplot()
andsummary()
methods. Future releases will provide relative risk (RR) as an alternative for cases where the proportional hazards assumption is not satisfied.
The following functions are no longer accessible to users. However, they
are called within make_immunization()
:
get_immunization_date()
get_immunization_dose()
get_immunization_vaccine()
set_status()
Similarly, the effectiveness()
function deprecates the use of
coh_eff_noconf()
, and the plot()
method now returns a log-log plot,
replacing the plot_loglog()
function.