Function to generate synthetic data based on input dataset

[Masswear]

Research conducted with synthetic datasets facilitates sharing of data to ensure reproducability and transparency. A function based on our work on adherence trajectories or other approaches (e.g. Dahmen, Jessamyn, and Diane Cook. "SynSys: A Synthetic Data Generation System for Healthcare Applications." Sensors 19.5 (2019): 1181. see also github repository) could create synthetic data based on an input dataset, e.g.

synthetic_date <- create_synthetic_data(data, ID.colnames, disp.date.colname, duration.colname, medication.class.colnames, daily.dose.colname, sample.size, follow.up.window.duration) 

with:

• data: event durations dataset
• ID.colnames: patient-specific columns, e.g. ID, age, sex, socioeconomic status, etc.
• disp.date.colname: date of medication supply
• duration.colname: duration of supply
• medication.class.colnames: medication-specific columns, e.g. substance, galenic form, strength, etc.
• daily.dose.colname: prescribed daily dose
• sample size: size of the synthetic dataset
• follow.up.window.duration: duration for which data should be generated

The function output would be a synthetic dataset of the desired size and duration with some diagnostic output, e.g. data similarity measures.