R/trialcostR-package.R

In stephematician/trialcostR: Trial Cost-Effectiveness in R

#' Trial cost-effectiveness tools for R
#'
#' Simple tools for cost-effectiveness analysis of trials in R
#'
#' Provides three classes; Trial, ExtendTrial, and Utility Trial, and provides
#' generics for calculating life expectancy, with or without discounting, and a
#' generic for calculating quality-adjusted life expectancy.
#'
#' The base class Trial does not allow for any beyond-trial extension or
#' censoring, and so life expectancy is given by the follow-up time, or
#' discounted from the follow-up time.
#'
#' The ExtendTrial class allows for a new follow-up time to be specified and
#' accepts hazard data so that the life expectancy up to the new follow-up time
#' can be estimated. Both censored and uncensored observations are accepted,
#' where uncensored observations' (discounted) life-expectancy are given by the
#' original (discounted) follow-up times.
#'
#' The UtilityTrial class further allows for the specification of health states
#' and the utility of those health states.
#'
#' Discounting is applied continuously by exponential functions.
#'
#' Hazard data is allowed to vary by outcome, and the hazard is assumed
#' constant on each time interval specified, but is otherwise treated as a
#' continuous function of time. Time interval data is continuous and not
#' restricted to any discrete time scale (e.g. whole years etc)
#'
#' Health state utilities, like hazard data, can vary by outcome, and are
#' assumed constant within each health state time interval. The time interval
#' data is continuous as per hazard time intervals.
#'
#' All calculations are performed by exact integrals (of, essentially, step-like
#' functions for hazards and health state utility).
#'
#' This code is licensed under the MIT license
#' \url{https://www.r-project.org/Licenses/MIT}, and you may use this package
#' strictly under those terms
#'
#' @author Stephen Wade \email{stephematician@@gmail.com}
#'
#' @name trialcostR-package
#' @aliases trialcostR trialcostR-package
#' @docType package
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