Using simulation modelling and systems science to help contain COVID‐19: A systematic review. (19th August 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhang, Weiwei; Liu, Shiyong; Osgood, Nathaniel; Zhu, Hongli; Qian, Ying; Jia, Peng
• Is Part Of: Systems research and behavioral science. Volume 40:Number 1(2023)
• Page Start: 207
• Page End: 234
• Publication Date: 2022-08-19
• Subjects: agent‐based model -- COVID‐19 pandemic -- discrete event simulation -- system dynamics model -- systematic review; Psychology -- Periodicals; Social sciences -- Periodicals; System theory -- Periodicals; 003
• DOI: 10.1002/sres.2897
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1092-7026

Abstract

Abstract: This study systematically reviews applications of three simulation approaches, that is, system dynamics model (SDM), agent‐based model (ABM) and discrete event simulation (DES), and their hybrids in COVID‐19 research and identifies theoretical and application innovations in public health. Among the 372 eligible papers, 72 focused on COVID‐19 transmission dynamics, 204 evaluated both pharmaceutical and non‐pharmaceutical interventions, 29 focused on the prediction of the pandemic and 67 investigated the impacts of COVID‐19. ABM was used in 275 papers, followed by 54 SDM papers, 32 DES papers and 11 hybrid model papers. Evaluation and design of intervention scenarios are the most widely addressed area accounting for 55% of the four main categories, that is, the transmission of COVID‐19, prediction of the pandemic, evaluation and design of intervention scenarios and societal impact assessment. The complexities in impact evaluation and intervention design demand hybrid simulation models that can simultaneously capture micro and macro aspects of the socio‐economic systems involved.