*Result*: Scalable and distributed individualized treatment rules for multicenter datasets.

Title:
Scalable and distributed individualized treatment rules for multicenter datasets.
Authors:
Qiao N; Center for Applied Statistics, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100086, China.; School of Statistics, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100086, China., Li W; School of Statistics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100086, China., Zhang J; Center for Applied Statistics, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100086, China.; School of Statistics, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100086, China., Chen C; Department of Biostatistics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States.
Source:
Biometrics [Biometrics] 2026 Jan 06; Vol. 82 (1).
Publication Type:
Journal Article
Language:
English
Journal Info:
Publisher: Oxford University Press Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 0370625 Publication Model: Print Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1541-0420 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 0006341X NLM ISO Abbreviation: Biometrics Subsets: MEDLINE
Imprint Name(s):
Publication: March 2024- : [Oxford] : Oxford University Press
Original Publication: Alexandria Va : Biometric Society
Grant Information:
MOE; 22JJD910001 Key Research Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences
Contributed Indexing:
Keywords: classification error; convolution-smoothing; distributed learning; generalized coordinate descent algorithm; personalized medicine
Entry Date(s):
Date Created: 20260205 Date Completed: 20260205 Latest Revision: 20260205
Update Code:
20260206
DOI:
10.1093/biomtc/ujag003
PMID:
41642619
Database:
MEDLINE

*Further Information*

*Synthesizing information from multiple data sources is crucial for constructing accurate individualized treatment rules (ITRs). However, privacy concerns often present significant barriers to the integrative analysis of such multicenter data. Classical meta-learning, which averages local estimates to derive the final ITR, is frequently suboptimal due to biases in these local estimates. To address these challenges, we propose a convolution-smoothed weighted support vector machine for learning the optimal ITR. The accompanying loss function is both convex and smooth, which allows us to develop an efficient multiround distributed learning procedure. Such distributed learning ensures optimal statistical performance with a fixed number of communication rounds, thereby minimizing coordination costs across data centers while preserving data privacy. Our method avoids pooling subject-level raw data and instead requires only sharing summary statistics. Additionally, we develop an efficient coordinate gradient descent algorithm, which guarantees at least linear convergence for the resulting optimization problem. Extensive simulations and an application to sepsis treatment across multiple intensive care units validate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
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