As part of studies that employ health electronic records databases, this paper advocates the employment of graph theory for investigating drug-switching behaviors. Unlike the shared approach in this field (comparing groups that have switched with control groups), network theory can provide information about actual switching behavior patterns. After a brief and simple introduction to fundamental concepts of network theory, here we present (i) a Python script to obtain an adjacency matrix from a records database and (ii) an illustrative example of the application of network theory basic concepts to investigate drug-switching behaviors. Further potentialities of network theory (weighted matrices and the use of clustering algorithms), along with the generalization of these methods to other kinds of switching behaviors beyond drug switching, are discussed.

Network theory and switching behaviors: A user guide for analyzing electronic records databases / Gronchi G.; Raglianti M.; Giovannelli F.. - In: FUTURE INTERNET. - ISSN 1999-5903. - ELETTRONICO. - 13:(2021), pp. 0-0. [10.3390/fi13090228]

Network theory and switching behaviors: A user guide for analyzing electronic records databases

Gronchi G.
;
Giovannelli F.
2021

Abstract

As part of studies that employ health electronic records databases, this paper advocates the employment of graph theory for investigating drug-switching behaviors. Unlike the shared approach in this field (comparing groups that have switched with control groups), network theory can provide information about actual switching behavior patterns. After a brief and simple introduction to fundamental concepts of network theory, here we present (i) a Python script to obtain an adjacency matrix from a records database and (ii) an illustrative example of the application of network theory basic concepts to investigate drug-switching behaviors. Further potentialities of network theory (weighted matrices and the use of clustering algorithms), along with the generalization of these methods to other kinds of switching behaviors beyond drug switching, are discussed.
2021
13
0
0
Goal 3: Good health and well-being
Gronchi G.; Raglianti M.; Giovannelli F.
File in questo prodotto:
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.

I documenti in FLORE sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificatore per citare o creare un link a questa risorsa: https://hdl.handle.net/2158/1250628
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 0
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 0
social impact