A Value-of-Information Framework for Personalizing the Timing of Surveillance Testing

Abstract

Background Patient surveillance using repeated biomarker measurements presents an opportunity to detect and treat disease progression early. Frequent surveillance testing using biomarkers is recommended and routinely conducted in several diseases, including cancer and diabetes. However, frequent testing involves tradeoffs. Although surveillance tests provide information about current disease status, the complications and costs of frequent tests may not be justified for patients who are at low risk of progression. Predictions based on patients’ earlier biomarker values may be used to inform decision making; however, predictions are uncertain, leading to decision uncertainty. Methods We propose the Personalized Risk-Adaptive Surveillance (PRAISE) framework, a novel method for embedding predictions into a value-of-information (VOI) framework to account for the cost of uncertainty over time and determine the time point at which collection of biomarker data would be most valuable. The proposed sequential decision-making framework is innovative in that it leverages the patient’s longitudinal history, considers individual benefits and harms, and allows for dynamic tailoring of surveillance intervals by considering the uncertainty in current information and estimating the probability that new information may change treatment decisions, as well as the impact of this change on patient outcomes. Results When applied to data from cystic fibrosis patients, PRAISE lowers costs by allowing some patients to skip a visit, compared to an “always test” strategy. It does so without compromising expected survival, by recommending less frequent testing among those who are unlikely to be treated at the skipped time point. Conclusions A VOI-based approach to patient monitoring is feasible and could be applied to several diseases to develop more cost-effective and personalized strategies for ongoing patient care. Highlights In many patient-monitoring settings, the complications and costs of frequent tests are not justified for patients who are at low risk of disease progression. Predictions based on patient history may be used to individualize the timing of patient visits based on evolving risk. We propose Personalized Risk-Adaptive Surveillance (PRAISE), a novel method for personalizing the timing of surveillance testing, where prediction modeling projects the disease trajectory and a value-of-information (VOI)–based pragmatic decision-theoretic framework quantifies patient- and time-specific benefit-harm tradeoffs. A VOI-based approach to patient monitoring could be applied to several diseases to develop more personalized and cost-effective strategies for ongoing patient care.