Competing Risks Task

This task extends mlr3::Task and mlr3::TaskSupervised to handle survival problems with competing risks. The target variable consists of survival times and an event indicator, which must be a non-negative integer in the set \((0,1,2,...,K)\). \(0\) represents censored observations, while other integers correspond to distinct competing events. Every row corresponds to one subject/observation.

Predefined tasks are stored in mlr3::mlr_tasks.

The task_type is set to "cmprsk".

Note: Currently only right-censoring is supported.

See also

Other Task: TaskDens, TaskSurv, mlr_tasks_actg, mlr_tasks_faithful, mlr_tasks_gbcs, mlr_tasks_gbsg, mlr_tasks_grace, mlr_tasks_lung, mlr_tasks_mgus, mlr_tasks_pbc, mlr_tasks_precip, mlr_tasks_rats, mlr_tasks_veteran, mlr_tasks_whas

Super classes

mlr3::Task -> mlr3::TaskSupervised -> TaskCompRisks

Active bindings

cens_type

(character(1))
Returns the type of censoring.

Currently, only the "right" censoring type is fully supported. The API might change in the future to support left and interval censoring.

cmp_events

(character(1))
Returns the names of the competing events.

Methods

Public methods

• TaskCompRisks$new()

• TaskCompRisks$truth()

• TaskCompRisks$formula()

• TaskCompRisks$times()

• TaskCompRisks$event()

• TaskCompRisks$unique_events()

• TaskCompRisks$unique_times()

• TaskCompRisks$unique_event_times()

• TaskCompRisks$aalen_johansen()

• TaskCompRisks$cens_prop()

• TaskCompRisks$filter()

• TaskCompRisks$clone()

Inherited methods

• mlr3::Task$add_strata()
• mlr3::Task$cbind()
• mlr3::Task$data()
• mlr3::Task$divide()
• mlr3::Task$droplevels()
• mlr3::Task$format()
• mlr3::Task$head()
• mlr3::Task$help()
• mlr3::Task$levels()
• mlr3::Task$missings()
• mlr3::Task$print()
• mlr3::Task$rbind()
• mlr3::Task$rename()
• mlr3::Task$select()
• mlr3::Task$set_col_roles()
• mlr3::Task$set_levels()
• mlr3::Task$set_row_roles()

---

Method new()

Creates a new instance of this R6 class.

Usage

TaskCompRisks$new(
  id,
  backend,
  time = "time",
  event = "event",
  label = NA_character_
)

Arguments

id

(character(1))
Identifier for the new instance.

backend

(DataBackend)
Either a DataBackend, or any object which is convertible to a DataBackend with as_data_backend(). E.g., a data.frame() will be converted to a DataBackendDataTable.

time

(character(1))
Name of the column for event time.

event

(character(1))
Name of the column giving the event indicator (\(0\) corresponds to censoring, values \(> 0\) correspond to competing events.

label

(character(1))
Label for the new instance.

Details

Only right-censoring competing risk tasks are currently supported.

---

Method truth()

True response for specified row_ids. This is the multi-state format using Surv with the event target column as a factor: Surv(time, as.factor(event))

Defaults to all rows with role "use".

Usage

TaskCompRisks$truth(rows = NULL)

Arguments

rows

(integer())
Row indices.

Returns

survival::Surv().

---

Method formula()

Creates a formula for competing risk models with survival::Surv() on the LHS (left hand side).

Usage

TaskCompRisks$formula(rhs = NULL)

Arguments

rhs

If NULL, RHS (right hand side) is ".", otherwise RHS is "rhs".

Returns

stats::formula().

---

Method times()

Returns the (unsorted) outcome times.

Usage

TaskCompRisks$times(rows = NULL)

Arguments

rows

(integer())
Row indices.

Returns

numeric()

---

Method event()

Returns the event indicator.

Usage

TaskCompRisks$event(rows = NULL)

Arguments

rows

(integer())
Row indices.

Returns

integer()

---

Method unique_events()

Returns the unique events (excluding censoring).

Usage

TaskCompRisks$unique_events(rows = NULL)

Arguments

rows

(integer())
Row indices.

Returns

integer()

---

Method unique_times()

Returns the sorted unique outcome times.

Usage

TaskCompRisks$unique_times(rows = NULL)

Arguments

rows

(integer())
Row indices.

Returns

numeric()

---

Method unique_event_times()

Returns the sorted unique event outcome times (by any cause).

Usage

TaskCompRisks$unique_event_times(rows = NULL)

Arguments

rows

(integer())
Row indices.

Returns

numeric()

---

Method aalen_johansen()

Calls survival::survfit() to calculate the Aalen–Johansen estimator.

Usage

TaskCompRisks$aalen_johansen(strata = NULL, rows = NULL, ...)

Arguments

strata

(character())
Stratification variables to use.

rows

(integer())
Subset of row indices.

...

(any)
Additional arguments passed down to survival::survfit.formula().

Returns

survival::survfit.object.

---

Method cens_prop()

Returns the proportion of censoring for this competing risks task. By default, this is returned for all observations, otherwise only the specified ones (rows).

Usage

TaskCompRisks$cens_prop(rows = NULL)

Arguments

rows

(integer())
Row indices.

Returns

numeric()

---

Method filter()

Subsets the task, keeping only the rows specified via row ids rows. This operation mutates the task in-place.

Usage

TaskCompRisks$filter(rows = NULL)

Arguments

rows

(integer())
Row indices.

Returns

Returns the object itself, but modified by reference.

---

Method clone()

The objects of this class are cloneable with this method.

Usage

TaskCompRisks$clone(deep = FALSE)

Arguments

deep

Whether to make a deep clone.

Examples

library(mlr3)
task = tsk("pbc")

# meta data
task$target_names # target is always (time, status) for right-censoring tasks
#> [1] "time"   "status"
task$feature_names
#>  [1] "age"      "albumin"  "alk.phos" "ascites"  "ast"      "bili"    
#>  [7] "chol"     "copper"   "edema"    "hepato"   "platelet" "protime" 
#> [13] "sex"      "spiders"  "stage"    "trig"     "trt"     
task$formula()
#> Surv(time, as.factor(status)) ~ .
#> <environment: namespace:survival>

# survival data
task$truth() # survival::Surv() object
#>   [1]  13:2 147+   33:2  63:2  49:1  60+   81:2  78:2   1:2 123:2   9:2 117+ 
#>  [13] 117:2 120+   25:2   4:2 139+   44:2 113+   22:2   8:2 134:2 135+   47:2
#>  [25]   2:2  18:2 148+   10:2 126:2 148+  104:2 129+   93:2 118+    7:2 106:2
#>  [37]  75:2 149+  112:2  74:2  84+  145+   85:2 126:2  78:2  47:2  44:2  60:2
#>  [49] 107:2  73:2 143+  139+  101:2  28:2  48:2 131+  137:2  90:2 132+   38:2
#>  [61] 137+  137+  137+   60:2  39:2   2:2  10:2  55:2 121+   29:2  83:2 117:2
#>  [73] 133+  132+  110:2  54:2   6:2  80+   57:2  88:2  15:2  12:2 128+   24:2
#>  [85]  20:2 125+  125+   18:2 117+  101+    3:2 101:2 101:1 111+   84:2  82+ 
#>  [97]  69:2  77:1 113:2  32:2 111:2 112+  109+   35:2  75:2  16:2  66:1   6:2
#> [109] 108+  100+   81:1 106+   46:2  27:2  96+   91:2 103+  103+  101+   98+ 
#> [121]  42:2  69+  100+  100+   79:2  25:2  30:2  97+   98+   46:2  25:2  94+ 
#> [133]  37:2  94+    4:2  87+   28:2  93+   81:1  50:2  91+   91+    6:2  67:2
#> [145]  35:2  89+   55:2  39:2  88+   75+   87+   86+   85+   84+   84+   83+ 
#> [157]  73:1  31:2  83+   51:2  24:2  76+   80+    7:2  80+   26:2  80+   76+ 
#> [169]  77+   77+   77+   52+   76+   75+   74+   72+   68:2  74+   29:2  72+ 
#> [181]  73+   71+   71+   58:2  35:2  25:2  70+   40:2  67+   19:2  10:2  63+ 
#> [193]  66+   64+   32:2  64+   11:2  65+   38:2  64+   63+   58+   61+   62+ 
#> [205]  61+   22:2  60+   27:1  59+   30:2  55:2  58+   47:1  24:1  58+   58+ 
#> [217]  58+   47+   58+   57+   24:1  56+   55+   53+   55+   53+   54+   54+ 
#> [229]  42:1  50:1  35:1  53+    5:2  39:2  44+   51+   51+   50+   51+   44+ 
#> [241]  48+   47+   46+   47+   46+    1:2  47+   33+   46+   46+   46+   40+ 
#> [253]  35:1  26:2  44+   29:1  43+   43+   42+   28:1  43+   17:1  42+   42+ 
#> [265]  42+   41+   41+   40+   39+   39+   37+   37+   32+   30+   27+   25+ 
task$times() # (unsorted) times
#>   [1]  13 147  33  63  49  60  81  78   1 123   9 117 117 120  25   4 139  44
#>  [19] 113  22   8 134 135  47   2  18 148  10 126 148 104 129  93 118   7 106
#>  [37]  75 149 112  74  84 145  85 126  78  47  44  60 107  73 143 139 101  28
#>  [55]  48 131 137  90 132  38 137 137 137  60  39   2  10  55 121  29  83 117
#>  [73] 133 132 110  54   6  80  57  88  15  12 128  24  20 125 125  18 117 101
#>  [91]   3 101 101 111  84  82  69  77 113  32 111 112 109  35  75  16  66   6
#> [109] 108 100  81 106  46  27  96  91 103 103 101  98  42  69 100 100  79  25
#> [127]  30  97  98  46  25  94  37  94   4  87  28  93  81  50  91  91   6  67
#> [145]  35  89  55  39  88  75  87  86  85  84  84  83  73  31  83  51  24  76
#> [163]  80   7  80  26  80  76  77  77  77  52  76  75  74  72  68  74  29  72
#> [181]  73  71  71  58  35  25  70  40  67  19  10  63  66  64  32  64  11  65
#> [199]  38  64  63  58  61  62  61  22  60  27  59  30  55  58  47  24  58  58
#> [217]  58  47  58  57  24  56  55  53  55  53  54  54  42  50  35  53   5  39
#> [235]  44  51  51  50  51  44  48  47  46  47  46   1  47  33  46  46  46  40
#> [253]  35  26  44  29  43  43  42  28  43  17  42  42  42  41  41  40  39  39
#> [271]  37  37  32  30  27  25
task$event() # event indicators (0 = censored, >0 = different causes)
#>   [1] 2 0 2 2 1 0 2 2 2 2 2 0 2 0 2 2 0 2 0 2 2 2 0 2 2 2 0 2 2 0 2 0 2 0 2 2 2
#>  [38] 0 2 2 0 0 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 0 0 2 2 2 0 2 2 0 2 0 0 0 2 2 2 2 2 0 2 2 2 0 0
#>  [75] 2 2 2 0 2 2 2 2 0 2 2 0 0 2 0 0 2 2 1 0 2 0 2 1 2 2 2 0 0 2 2 2 1 2 0 0 1
#> [112] 0 2 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 2 0 2 0 2 0 1 2 0 0 2 2 2 0 2 2
#> [149] 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 2 2 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 2
#> [186] 2 0 2 0 2 2 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 2 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
#> [223] 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 1 0 0 0
#> [260] 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
task$unique_times() # sorted unique times
#>   [1]   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9  10  11  12  13  15  16  17  18  19
#>  [19]  20  22  24  25  26  27  28  29  30  31  32  33  35  37  38  39  40  41
#>  [37]  42  43  44  46  47  48  49  50  51  52  53  54  55  56  57  58  59  60
#>  [55]  61  62  63  64  65  66  67  68  69  70  71  72  73  74  75  76  77  78
#>  [73]  79  80  81  82  83  84  85  86  87  88  89  90  91  93  94  96  97  98
#>  [91] 100 101 103 104 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 117 118 120 121 123 125
#> [109] 126 128 129 131 132 133 134 135 137 139 143 145 147 148 149
task$unique_event_times() # sorted unique event times (from any cause)
#>  [1]   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9  10  11  12  13  15  16  17  18  19  20
#> [20]  22  24  25  26  27  28  29  30  31  32  33  35  37  38  39  40  42  44  46
#> [39]  47  48  49  50  51  54  55  57  58  60  63  66  67  68  69  73  74  75  77
#> [58]  78  79  81  83  84  85  88  90  91  93 101 104 106 107 110 111 112 113 117
#> [77] 123 126 134 137
task$aalen_johansen(strata = "sex") # Aalen-Johansen estimator
#> Call: survfit(formula = f, data = data)
#> 
#>               n nevent     rmean se(rmean)*
#> sex=m, (s0)  34      0 73.485839   8.777244
#> sex=f, (s0) 242      0 93.714998   3.738137
#> sex=m, 1     34      3 10.556980   5.624320
#> sex=f, 1    242     15  7.654985   1.904137
#> sex=m, 2     34     21 64.957181   9.152039
#> sex=f, 2    242     90 47.630017   3.733828
#>    *restricted mean time in state (max time = 149 )

# proportion of censored observations across all dataset
task$cens_prop()
#> [1] 0.5326087