The control outcome calibration approach for causal inference with unobserved confounding.
The control outcome calibration approach for causal inference with unobserved confounding.
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DOI：
10.1093/aje/kwt303
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发表时间：
2014-03-01
影响因子：
5
通讯作者：
Tchetgen Tchetgen E
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Tchetgen Tchetgen E
在非实验研究中，很难确定地排除未观察到的混杂现象。在流行病学实践中，有时使用阴性对照来检测未观察到的混杂现象的存在。一个结果被认为是一个有效的负控制变量，只要它受到未被观察到的暴露对结果影响的混杂因素的影响，尽管不直接受到暴露的影响。因此，在对观察到的混杂因素进行调整后，根据经验发现与暴露相关的阴性对照结果表明，可能存在未观察到的混杂。在这篇文章中，我们超越了使用控制结果来检测可能的未观察到的混淆，并建议在一种简单但正式的基于反事实的方法中使用控制结果来校正因未观察到的混淆而产生的偏差的因果效应估计。所提出的控制结果校准方法是在连续或二元结果的情况下发展的，控制结果和暴露可以是离散的或连续的。还开发了一种敏感性分析技术，可用于评估违反控制结果校准方法的主要识别假设可能影响关于暴露对结果影响的推断的程度。
Unobserved confounding can seldom be ruled out with certainty in nonexperimental studies. Negative controls are sometimes used in epidemiologic practice to detect the presence of unobserved confounding. An outcome is said to be a valid negative control variable to the extent that it is influenced by unobserved confounders of the exposure effects on the outcome in view, although not directly influenced by the exposure. Thus, a negative control outcome found to be empirically associated with the exposure after adjustment for observed confounders indicates that unobserved confounding may be present. In this paper, we go beyond the use of control outcomes to detect possible unobserved confounding and propose to use control outcomes in a simple but formal counterfactual-based approach to correct causal effect estimates for bias due to unobserved confounding. The proposed control outcome calibration approach is developed in the context of a continuous or binary outcome, and the control outcome and the exposure can be discrete or continuous. A sensitivity analysis technique is also developed, which can be used to assess the degree to which a violation of the main identifying assumption of the control outcome calibration approach might impact inference about the effect of the exposure on the outcome in view.
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DOI：
10.1097/ede.0b013e3181d61eeb
发表时间：
2010-05
期刊：
Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.)
影响因子：
--
作者：
Lipsitch M;Tchetgen Tchetgen E;Cohen T
通讯作者：
Cohen T
影响因子：
6.1
作者：
HAUSMAN, JA
通讯作者：
HAUSMAN, JA
影响因子：
1.9
作者：
ROBINS, JM;MARK, SD;NEWEY, WK
通讯作者：
NEWEY, WK
影响因子：
1.9
作者：
ROSENBAUM, PR
通讯作者：
ROSENBAUM, PR
影响因子：
2.7
作者：
ROSENBAUM, PR;RUBIN, DB
通讯作者：
RUBIN, DB