Variable selection for dynamic treatment regimes: a reinforcement learning approach

Dynamic treatment regimes (DTRs) can be inferred from data collected through some randomized clinical trials by using reinforcement learning algorithms. During these clinical trials, a large set of clinical indicators are usually monitored. However, it is often more convenient for clinicians to have DTRs which are only defined on a small set of indicators rather than on the original full set. To address this problem, we analyse the approximation architecture of the state-action value functions computed by the fitted Q iteration algorithm - a RL algorithm - using tree-based regressors in order to identify a small subset of relevant ones. The RL algorithm is then rerun by considering only as state variables these most relevant indicators to have DTRs defined on a small set of indicators. The approach is validated on benchmark problems inspired
from the classical ‘car on the hill’ problem and the results obtained are positive.