# Can we think of competing-event as another form of non-event in terms of utility?

**URL:** <https://discourse.datamethods.org/t/can-we-think-of-competing-event-as-another-form-of-non-event-in-terms-of-utility/10093>\
**Category:** general\
**Tags:** competing-risk, prediction, interpretation\
**Created:** [April 21, 2024, 12:00pm UTC](https://discourse.datamethods.org/t/can-we-think-of-competing-event-as-another-form-of-non-event-in-terms-of-utility/10093 "2024-04-21T12:00:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Uriah](https://discourse.datamethods.org/user_avatar/discourse.datamethods.org/uriah/32/1280_2.png) [@Uriah](https://discourse.datamethods.org/u/Uriah)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 12:00pm UTC](https://discourse.datamethods.org/t/can-we-think-of-competing-event-as-another-form-of-non-event-in-terms-of-utility/10093/1 "2024-04-21T12:00:59Z")

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Thinking about intersection of states, utility and treatments related it seems to me that the literature tends to relate to competing-event (death in heatlhcare for the most part) as just another form of non-event.

Given that prediction models are developed on non-treated patients, it seems reasonable to interpret unnecessary treatment as a treatment given for a patient that is expected to die anyway regardless of the treatment or to be event-free.