A Clinical Decision Support System for the Treatment of COVID-19 with Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Techniques (Preprint)
BACKGROUND The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first reported in December 2019. Until now, many drugs and methods have been used in the treatment of the disease. However, no effective treatment option has been found and only case-based successes have been achieved so far. OBJECTIVE This study aims to evaluate the COVID-19 treatment options using multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques. METHODS In this study, we evaluated the available COVID-19 treatment options by MCDM techniques, namely fuzzy PROMETHEE and VIKOR. This technique is based on the evaluation and comparison of complex and multiple criteria to evaluate the most appropriate alternative. We evaluated current treatment options including favipiravir (FPV), lopinavir/ritonavir, hydroxychloroquine, interleukin-1 blocker, intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG), and plasma exchange. The criteria used for the analysis include side effects, method of administration of the drug, cost, turnover of plasma, level of fever, age, pregnancy, and kidney function. RESULTS The results showed that plasma exchange was the most preferred alternative, followed by FPV and IVIG, while hydroxychloroquine was the least favorable one. New alternatives could be considered once they are available, and weights could be assigned based on the opinions of the decision makers (physicians/clinicians). CONCLUSIONS We showed the applicability of the MCDM techniques in informing decision makers in choosing the right treatment technique for the management of COVID-19.