论文标题

使用后验预测分布来分析流行病模型:墨西哥城的Covid-19

Using posterior predictive distributions to analyse epidemic models: COVID-19 in Mexico City

论文作者

Mena, Ramsés H., Velasco-Hernandez, Jorge X., Mantilla-Beniers, Natalia B., Carranco-Sapiéns, Gabriel A., Benet, Luis, Boyer, Denis, Castillo, Isaac Pérez

论文摘要

流行病学模型包含一组参数,必须根据可用观察结果进行调整。一旦校准了模型,就可以将其用作预测和评估应急计划的预测工具。通常,仅使用点估计器来进行此类预测。但是,对于广泛的参数值,某些模型可能会合理地拟合相同的数据,并且这种灵活性意味着,此类模型的预测将差异很大,具体取决于在范围内采用的特定参数值。当数据差或不完整时,模型不确定性会进一步扩大。解决此问题的一种方法是使用贝叶斯统计数据合并观察结果,并使用后验分布中包含的全部参数估计值来调整模型预测中的不确定性。具体而言,考虑到观测的流行病学模型和概率分布,我们使用模型参数的后验分布来通过后验预测分布生成所有可能的流行病学曲线。从所有曲线的信封中,可以提取最坏情况的情况,并根据本评估研究实施应急计划的影响。我们将这种方法应用于墨西哥城Covid-19的潜在发展,并评估应急计划是否成功,以及流行病学曲线是否变平。

Epidemiological models contain a set of parameters that must be adjusted based on available observations. Once a model has been calibrated, it can be used as a forecasting tool to make predictions and to evaluate contingency plans. It is customary to employ only point estimators for such predictions. However, some models may fit the same data reasonably well for a broad range of parameter values, and this flexibility means that predictions stemming from such models will vary widely, depending on the particular parameter values employed within the range that give a good fit. When data are poor or incomplete, model uncertainty widens further. A way to circumvent this problem is to use Bayesian statistics to incorporate observations and use the full range of parameter estimates contained in the posterior distribution to adjust for uncertainties in model predictions. Specifically, given the epidemiological model and a probability distribution for observations, we use the posterior distribution of model parameters to generate all possible epidemiological curves via the posterior predictive distribution. From the envelope of all curves one can extract the worst-case scenario and study the impact of implementing contingency plans according to this assessment. We apply this approach to the potential evolution of COVID-19 in Mexico City and assess whether contingency plans are being successful and whether the epidemiological curve has flattened.

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