README.md

In hierNest: Penalized Regression with Hierarchical Nested Parameterization Structure

hierNest

The hierNest package allows for the fitting of penalized GLMs with covariate effects that vary by discrete and hierarchically-organized groups. The methodology allows for the shrinkage of group-specific models to a global model or to higher level groups. For example, if groups are defined based on primary diagnoses and then diagnoses are organized into body systems, hierNest will allow models to vary for each diagnosis or could be collapsed via penalization to body-system specific models or fully to a global model in common for all groups, all on a variable-by-variable basis.

Example

Load the package and an example dataset

library(hierNest)

data("example_data")

str(example_data)
#> List of 3
#>  $ X        : num [1:200, 1:30] -1.715 1.001 -1.551 -0.214 0.616 ...
#>   ..- attr(*, "dimnames")=List of 2
#>   .. ..$ : NULL
#>   .. ..$ : chr [1:30] "X1" "X2" "X3" "X4" ...
#>  $ Y        : num [1:200] 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 ...
#>  $ hier_info: num [1:200, 1:2] 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ...

The data structure hier_info contains hierarchical information about group membership. The last column represents the finest description of group membership (eg primary diagnosis) and the first column represents the coarsest definition of group (eg body system).

head(example_data$hier_info)
#>      [,1] [,2]
#> [1,]    1    1
#> [2,]    1    1
#> [3,]    1    1
#> [4,]    1    1
#> [5,]    1    1
#> [6,]    1    1

Fit models and select tuning parameters via cross-validation

The cv.hierNest() function both fits models and selects tuning parameters via $K$-fold cross validation.

cv.fit=cv.hierNest(example_data$X,
                   example_data$Y,
                   method="overlapping",# For now, we only wrap-up the overlapping group lasso method in this function
                   hier_info=example_data$hier_info,
                   family="binomial",
                   partition = "subgroup", # partition = "subgroup" make sure the each n-fold is sampled within the subgroups to avoid extreme cases
                   cvmethod = "grid_search", # cvmethod = "grid_search" indicate the second cross-validation method
                   asparse1 = c(0.5,20), # Input the upper and lower bounds of alpha_1 and alpha_2
                   asparse2 = c(0.05,0.20), 
                   asparse1_num = 3, # number of grids for alpha_1 and alpha_2, total 3*3 = 9 grids will be screened
                   asparse2_num = 3, 
                   nlambda = 50, # length of lambda sequence for each pair of alpha_1 and alpha_2
                   )

Results

Plot the coefficients

By specifying the type = “coefficients”, we plot all non-zero coefficient including the overall mean, group-specific, and subgroup specific.

plot(cv.fit, type = "coefficients")

By specifying the type = “Subgroup effect”, we plot the covariate effects for each subgroup.

plot(cv.fit, type = "Subgroup effects")

Grab chosen lambda and coefficients

cv.fit$lambda.min    # lambda minimizing CV loss
#> [1] 0.00056551

cv.fit$min_alpha1    # alpha1 minimizing CV loss
#> [1] 0.5

cv.fit$min_alpha2    # lambda minimizing CV loss
#> [1] 0.2

hierNest documentation built on March 24, 2026, 5:07 p.m.