Modeling in Medical Decision Making : A Bayesian Approach

Recent progress in fast, parallel computing and in simulation-based inference has lead to the development of extremely powerful statistical tools. These can now be successfully applied to address the most pressing practical and ethical concerns arising from medical decision problems.

Medical decision making has evolved in recent years, as more complex problems are being faced and addressed based on increasingly large amounts of data. In parallel, advances in computing have led to a host of new and powerful statistical tools to support decision making. Simulation-based Bayesian methods are especially promising, as they provide a unified framework for data collection, inference, and decision making. In addition, these methods are simple to interpret, and can help to address the most pressing practical and ethical concerns arising in medical decision making. * Provides an overview of the necessary methodological background, including Bayesian inference, Monte Carlo simulation, and utility theory. * Driven by three real applications, presented as extensively detailed case studies. * Case studies include simplified versions of the analysis, to approach complex modelling in stages. * Features coverage of meta-analysis, decision analysis, and comprehensive decision modeling. * Accessible to readers with only a basic statistical knowledge. Primarily aimed at students and practitioners of biostatistics, the book will also appeal to those working in statistics, medical informatics, evidence-based medicine, health economics, health services research, and health policy.