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Main Authors: Lee, Jeongjin, Kim, Jong-Min
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.12159
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author Lee, Jeongjin
Kim, Jong-Min
author_facet Lee, Jeongjin
Kim, Jong-Min
contents Treatment strategies are critical in healthcare, particularly when outcomes are subject to censoring. This study introduces the Counterfactual Buckley-James Q-Learning framework, which integrates the Buckley-James method with reinforcement learning to address challenges posed by censored survival data. The Buckley-James method imputes censored survival times via conditional expectations based on observed data, offering a robust mechanism for handling incomplete outcomes. By incorporating these imputed values into a counterfactual Q-learning framework, the proposed method enables the estimation and comparison of potential outcomes under different treatment strategies. This facilitates the identification of optimal dynamic treatment regimes that maximize expected survival time. Through extensive simulation studies, the method demonstrates robust performance across various sample sizes and censoring scenarios, including right censoring and missing at random (MAR). Application to real-world clinical trial data further highlights the utility of this approach in informing personalized treatment decisions, providing an interpretable and reliable tool for optimizing survival outcomes in complex clinical settings.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_12159
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Counterfactual Q Learning via the Linear Buckley James Method for Longitudinal Survival Data
Lee, Jeongjin
Kim, Jong-Min
Methodology
Computation
Treatment strategies are critical in healthcare, particularly when outcomes are subject to censoring. This study introduces the Counterfactual Buckley-James Q-Learning framework, which integrates the Buckley-James method with reinforcement learning to address challenges posed by censored survival data. The Buckley-James method imputes censored survival times via conditional expectations based on observed data, offering a robust mechanism for handling incomplete outcomes. By incorporating these imputed values into a counterfactual Q-learning framework, the proposed method enables the estimation and comparison of potential outcomes under different treatment strategies. This facilitates the identification of optimal dynamic treatment regimes that maximize expected survival time. Through extensive simulation studies, the method demonstrates robust performance across various sample sizes and censoring scenarios, including right censoring and missing at random (MAR). Application to real-world clinical trial data further highlights the utility of this approach in informing personalized treatment decisions, providing an interpretable and reliable tool for optimizing survival outcomes in complex clinical settings.
title Counterfactual Q Learning via the Linear Buckley James Method for Longitudinal Survival Data
topic Methodology
Computation
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.12159