Decision Theoretic Subgroup Detection With Bayesian Machine Learning

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Alam, Entejar, Kundu, Poorbita, Linero, Antonio R.
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
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author Alam, Entejar
Kundu, Poorbita
Linero, Antonio R.
author_facet Alam, Entejar
Kundu, Poorbita
Linero, Antonio R.
contents We consider the problem of identifying promising subpopulations in terms of treatment effectiveness or treatment effect heterogeneity, from a Bayesian decision theoretic perspective. We first show that a straight-forward application of Bayesian decision theory to subgroup detection leads to a counter-intuitive risk-seeking (RS) behavior. Motivated by this observation, we introduce the Bayesian Risk-Aware Inference and Detection of Subgroups (BRAIDS) utility and use it to perform subgroup selection and post selection inference. The BRAIDS utility interpolates between risk-seeking (RS) and risk-averse (RA) identifications of subgroups, with a variant of the virtual twins algorithm as its risk-neutral midpoint. We also argue that effective subgroup estimation and inference requires the use of regularization priors to safeguard inferences from the winner's curse. We provide empirical evidence that posterior credible intervals for subgroup effects can still obtain nominal coverage levels, provided that an appropriate prior distribution is chosen. The proposed framework is illustrated on data from clinical trial assessing the efficacy of canagliflozin as a treatment for type 2 diabetes.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_05832
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Decision Theoretic Subgroup Detection With Bayesian Machine Learning
Alam, Entejar
Kundu, Poorbita
Linero, Antonio R.
Methodology
We consider the problem of identifying promising subpopulations in terms of treatment effectiveness or treatment effect heterogeneity, from a Bayesian decision theoretic perspective. We first show that a straight-forward application of Bayesian decision theory to subgroup detection leads to a counter-intuitive risk-seeking (RS) behavior. Motivated by this observation, we introduce the Bayesian Risk-Aware Inference and Detection of Subgroups (BRAIDS) utility and use it to perform subgroup selection and post selection inference. The BRAIDS utility interpolates between risk-seeking (RS) and risk-averse (RA) identifications of subgroups, with a variant of the virtual twins algorithm as its risk-neutral midpoint. We also argue that effective subgroup estimation and inference requires the use of regularization priors to safeguard inferences from the winner's curse. We provide empirical evidence that posterior credible intervals for subgroup effects can still obtain nominal coverage levels, provided that an appropriate prior distribution is chosen. The proposed framework is illustrated on data from clinical trial assessing the efficacy of canagliflozin as a treatment for type 2 diabetes.
title Decision Theoretic Subgroup Detection With Bayesian Machine Learning
topic Methodology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.05832