1
|
Almodóvar A, Parras J, Zazo S. Propensity Weighted federated learning for treatment effect estimation in distributed imbalanced environments. Comput Biol Med 2024; 178:108779. [PMID: 38943946 DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2024.108779] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2024] [Revised: 05/16/2024] [Accepted: 06/15/2024] [Indexed: 07/01/2024]
Abstract
Estimating treatment effects from observational data in medicine using causal inference is a very relevant task due to the abundance of observational data and the ethical and cost implications of conducting randomized experiments or experimental interventions. However, how could we estimate the effect of a treatment in a hospital that has very restricted access to treatment? In this paper, we want to address the problem of distributed causal inference, where hospitals not only have different distributions of patients, but also different treatment assignment criteria. Furthermore, it is necessary to take into account that due to privacy restrictions, personal patient data cannot be shared between hospitals. To address this problem, we propose an adaptation of the federated learning algorithm FederatedAveraging to one of the most advanced models for the prediction of treatment effects based on neural networks, TEDVAE. Our algorithm adaptation takes into account the shift in the treatment distribution between hospitals and is therefore called Propensity WeightedFederatedAveraging (PW FedAvg). As the distributions of the assignment of treatments become more unbalanced between the nodes, the estimation of causal effects becomes more challenging. The experiments show that PW FedAvg manages to reduce errors in the estimation of individual causal effects when imbalances are large, compared to VanillaFedAvg and other federated learning-based causal inference algorithms based on the application of federated learning to linear parametric models, Gaussian Processes and Random Fourier Features.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alejandro Almodóvar
- Information Processing and Telecommunication Center, ETSI de Telecomunicación, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain.
| | - Juan Parras
- Information Processing and Telecommunication Center, ETSI de Telecomunicación, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain.
| | - Santiago Zazo
- Information Processing and Telecommunication Center, ETSI de Telecomunicación, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
He J, Zhang D, Li F. Statistical methods to control for confounders in rare disease settings that use external control. J Biopharm Stat 2024:1-19. [PMID: 38695298 DOI: 10.1080/10543406.2024.2341650] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2023] [Accepted: 04/05/2024] [Indexed: 05/07/2024]
Abstract
In the drug development for rare disease, the number of treated subjects in the clinical trial is often very small, whereas the number of external controls can be relatively large. There is no clear guidance on choosing an appropriate statistical method to control baseline confounding in this situation. To fill this gap, we conduct extensive simulations to evaluate the performance of commonly used matching and weighting methods as well as the more recently developed targeted maximum likelihood estimation (TMLE) and cardinality matching in small sample settings, mimicking the motivating data from a pediatric rare disease. Among the methods examined, the performance of coarsened exact matching (CEM) and TMLE are relatively robust under various model specifications. CEM is only feasible when the number of controls far exceeds the number of treated, whereas TMLE has better performance with less extreme treatment allocation ratios. Our simulations suggest bootstrap is useful for variance estimation in small samples after matching.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jiwei He
- Division of Biometrics VII, Office of Biostatistics, Office of Translational Sciences, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA
| | - Di Zhang
- Real-World Evidence Statistics, Teva Pharmaceuticals, West Chester, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Feng Li
- Division of Biometrics II, Office of Biostatistics, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research U.S. Food and Drug Administration, USA
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Rao S, Mamouei M, Salimi-Khorshidi G, Li Y, Ramakrishnan R, Hassaine A, Canoy D, Rahimi K. Targeted-BEHRT: Deep Learning for Observational Causal Inference on Longitudinal Electronic Health Records. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON NEURAL NETWORKS AND LEARNING SYSTEMS 2024; 35:5027-5038. [PMID: 35737602 DOI: 10.1109/tnnls.2022.3183864] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Observational causal inference is useful for decision-making in medicine when randomized clinical trials (RCTs) are infeasible or nongeneralizable. However, traditional approaches do not always deliver unconfounded causal conclusions in practice. The rise of "doubly robust" nonparametric tools coupled with the growth of deep learning for capturing rich representations of multimodal data offers a unique opportunity to develop and test such models for causal inference on comprehensive electronic health records (EHRs). In this article, we investigate causal modeling of an RCT-established causal association: the effect of classes of antihypertensive on incident cancer risk. We develop a transformer-based model, targeted bidirectional EHR transformer (T-BEHRT) coupled with doubly robust estimation to estimate average risk ratio (RR). We compare our model to benchmark statistical and deep learning models for causal inference in multiple experiments on semi-synthetic derivations of our dataset with various types and intensities of confounding. In order to further test the reliability of our approach, we test our model on situations of limited data. We find that our model provides more accurate estimates of relative risk [least sum absolute error (SAE) from ground truth] compared with benchmark estimations. Finally, our model provides an estimate of class-wise antihypertensive effect on cancer risk that is consistent with results derived from RCTs.
Collapse
|
4
|
Siddique AA, Schnitzer ME, Balakrishnan N, Sotgiu G, Vargas MH, Menzies D, Benedetti A. Two-stage targeted maximum likelihood estimation for mixed aggregate and individual participant data analysis with an application to multidrug resistant tuberculosis. Stat Med 2024; 43:342-357. [PMID: 37985441 DOI: 10.1002/sim.9963] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2022] [Revised: 10/17/2023] [Accepted: 11/07/2023] [Indexed: 11/22/2023]
Abstract
In this study, we develop a new method for the meta-analysis of mixed aggregate data (AD) and individual participant data (IPD). The method is an adaptation of inverse probability weighted targeted maximum likelihood estimation (IPW-TMLE), which was initially proposed for two-stage sampled data. Our methods are motivated by a systematic review investigating treatment effectiveness for multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) where the available data include IPD from some studies but only AD from others. One complication in this application is that participants with MDR-TB are typically treated with multiple antimicrobial agents where many such medications were not observed in all studies considered in the meta-analysis. We focus here on the estimation of the expected potential outcome while intervening on a specific medication but not intervening on any others. Our method involves the implementation of a TMLE that transports the estimation from studies where the treatment is observed to the full target population. A second weighting component adjusts for the studies with missing (inaccessible) IPD. We demonstrate the properties of the proposed method and contrast it with alternative approaches in a simulation study. We finally apply this method to estimate treatment effectiveness in the MDR-TB case study.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Arman Alam Siddique
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
| | - Mireille E Schnitzer
- Faculty of Pharmacy and the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Canada
- Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics & Occupational HealthMcGill University, Montreal, Canada
| | | | - Giovanni Sotgiu
- Clinical Epidemiology and Medical Statistics Unit, Department of Medical, Surgical and Experimental Sciences, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy
| | - Mario H Vargas
- Departamento de Investigación en Hiperreactividad Bronquial, Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias, Mexico City, Mexico
- Unidad de Investigación Médica en Enfermedades Respiratorias, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Mexico City, Mexico
| | - Dick Menzies
- Respiratory Epidemiology and Clinical Research Institute, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Canada
- Department of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
| | - Andrea Benedetti
- Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics & Occupational HealthMcGill University, Montreal, Canada
- Respiratory Epidemiology and Clinical Research Institute, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Canada
- Department of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Wu X, Li Q, Cai J, Huang H, Ma S, Tan H. Longitudinal change of gut microbiota in hypertensive disorders in pregnancy: a nested case-control and Mendelian randomization study. Sci Rep 2023; 13:16986. [PMID: 37813882 PMCID: PMC10562506 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-43780-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2023] [Accepted: 09/28/2023] [Indexed: 10/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Mounting evidence has shown that gut microbiota (GM) is related to hypertensive disorders in pregnancy (HDP), however, most studies only focused on one time point in pregnancy. In this study, we conducted a nested case-control study utilizing a follow-up cohort, resulting in the collection of 47 HDP patients and 30 healthy controls. The GM profiles were explored using 16S rRNA sequencing at three time points during pregnancy. The diversity analysis of GM showed no significant difference between HDP patients and controls, however, we found 21 differential GM during pregnancy. Trend analysis showed that there are statistical differences in the relative abundance of Thermomonas, Xanthomonas, and Phenylobacteriumat during pregnancy in the gestational hypertension group, and of Xanthomonas, Polycyclovorans, and Phenylobacterium in the control group. The correlation study found that six genera of GM are related to blood pressure. Furthermore, the MR analysis identified the causal relationship between Methanobrevibacter and pre-eclampsia (PE). This study first explored the longitudinal change of GM in HDP patients during pregnancy, found the differential GM, and detected the causal association. Our findings may promote the prevention and treatment of HDP from the perspective of GM and provide valuable insights into the pathogenesis of HDP.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Xinrui Wu
- School of Medicine, Jishou University, Jishou, China
- Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Qi Li
- Xiangxi Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Jishou, China
| | - Jiawang Cai
- School of Medicine, Jishou University, Jishou, China
| | | | - Shujuan Ma
- Reproductive and Genetic Hospital of CITIC-Xiangya, Changsha, China.
| | - Hongzhuan Tan
- Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, China.
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Smith MJ, Phillips RV, Luque-Fernandez MA, Maringe C. Application of targeted maximum likelihood estimation in public health and epidemiological studies: a systematic review. Ann Epidemiol 2023; 86:34-48.e28. [PMID: 37343734 DOI: 10.1016/j.annepidem.2023.06.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2023] [Revised: 05/24/2023] [Accepted: 06/06/2023] [Indexed: 06/23/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE The targeted maximum likelihood estimation (TMLE) statistical data analysis framework integrates machine learning, statistical theory, and statistical inference to provide a least biased, efficient, and robust strategy for estimation and inference of a variety of statistical and causal parameters. We describe and evaluate the epidemiological applications that have benefited from recent methodological developments. METHODS We conducted a systematic literature review in PubMed for articles that applied any form of TMLE in observational studies. We summarized the epidemiological discipline, geographical location, expertize of the authors, and TMLE methods over time. We used the Roadmap of Targeted Learning and Causal Inference to extract key methodological aspects of the publications. We showcase the contributions to the literature of these TMLE results. RESULTS Of the 89 publications included, 33% originated from the University of California at Berkeley, where the framework was first developed by Professor Mark van der Laan. By 2022, 59% of the publications originated from outside the United States and explored up to seven different epidemiological disciplines in 2021-2022. Double-robustness, bias reduction, and model misspecification were the main motivations that drew researchers toward the TMLE framework. Through time, a wide variety of methodological, tutorial, and software-specific articles were cited, owing to the constant growth of methodological developments around TMLE. CONCLUSIONS There is a clear dissemination trend of the TMLE framework to various epidemiological disciplines and to increasing numbers of geographical areas. The availability of R packages, publication of tutorial papers, and involvement of methodological experts in applied publications have contributed to an exponential increase in the number of studies that understood the benefits and adoption of TMLE.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Matthew J Smith
- Inequalities in Cancer Outcomes Network, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
| | - Rachael V Phillips
- Division of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
| | - Miguel Angel Luque-Fernandez
- Inequalities in Cancer Outcomes Network, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK; Department of Statistics and Operations Research, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
| | - Camille Maringe
- Inequalities in Cancer Outcomes Network, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Wu X, Li Q, Lin D, Cai J, Huang H, Tan H. Gut microbiota and hypertensive disorders in pregnancy: evidence from the Mendelian randomization study. Aging (Albany NY) 2023; 15:9105-9127. [PMID: 37698537 PMCID: PMC10522390 DOI: 10.18632/aging.205019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2023] [Accepted: 08/21/2023] [Indexed: 09/13/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Recent studies have shown that gut microbiota (GM) is related to hypertensive disorders in pregnancy (HDP). However, the causal relationship needs to be treated with caution due to confounding factors and reverse causation. METHODS We obtained genetic variants from genome-wide association studies including GM (N = 18,340) in MiBioGen Consortium as well as HDP (7,686 cases/115,893 controls) and specific subtypes in FinnGen Consortium. Then, Inverse variance weighted, maximum likelihood, weighted median, MR-Egger, and MR.RAPS methods were applied to examine the causal association. Reverse Mendelian randomization (RMR) and multivariable MR were performed to confirm the causal direction and adjust the potential confounders, respectively. Furthermore, sensitivity analyses including Cochran's Q statistics, MR-Egger intercept, MR-PRESSO global test, and the leave-one-out analysis were conducted to detect the potential heterogeneity and horizontal pleiotropy. RESULTS The present study found causalities between eight gut microbial genera and HDP. The HDP-associated gut microbial genera identified by MR analyses varied in different subtypes. Specifically, our study found causal associations of LachnospiraceaeUCG010, Olsenella, RuminococcaceaeUCG009, Ruminococcus2, Anaerotruncus, Bifidobacterium, and Intestinibacter with GH, of Eubacterium (ruminantium group), Eubacterium (ventriosum group), Methanobrevibacter, RuminococcaceaeUCG002, and Tyzzerella3 with PE, and of Dorea and RuminococcaceaeUCG010 with eclampsia, respectively. CONCLUSIONS This study first applied the MR approach to detect the causal relationships between GM and specific HDP subtypes. Our findings may promote the prevention and treatment of HDP targeted on GM and provide valuable insights to understand the mechanism of HDP in different subtypes from the perspective of GM.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Xinrui Wu
- School of Medicine, Jishou University, Jishou, China
- Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Qi Li
- Xiangxi Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Jishou, China
| | - Dihui Lin
- School of Medicine, Jishou University, Jishou, China
| | - Jiawang Cai
- School of Medicine, Jishou University, Jishou, China
| | | | - Hongzhuan Tan
- Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, China
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Vowels LM, Vowels MJ, Carnelley KB, Millings A, Gibson‐Miller J. Toward a causal link between attachment styles and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. BRITISH JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY 2023; 62:605-620. [PMID: 37300241 PMCID: PMC10946758 DOI: 10.1111/bjc.12428] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2023] [Revised: 05/18/2023] [Accepted: 05/18/2023] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Recent research has shown that insecure attachment, especially attachment anxiety, is associated with poor mental health outcomes, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Other research suggests that insecure attachment may be linked to nonadherence to social distancing behaviours during the pandemic. AIMS The present study aims to examine the causal links between attachment styles (secure, anxious, avoidant), mental health outcomes (depression, anxiety, loneliness) and adherence to social distancing behaviours during the first several months of the UK lockdown (between April and August 2020). MATERIALS & METHODS We used a nationally representative UK sample (cross-sectional n = 1325; longitudinal n = 950). The data were analysed using state-of-the-art causal discovery and targeted learning algorithms to identify causal processes. RESULTS The results showed that insecure attachment styles were causally linked to poorer mental health outcomes, mediated by loneliness. Only attachment avoidance was causally linked to nonadherence to social distancing guidelines. DISCUSSION Future interventions to improve mental health outcomes should focus on mitigating feelings of loneliness. Limitations include no access to pre-pandemic data and the use of categorical attachment measure. CONCLUSION Insecure attachment is a risk factor for poorer mental health outcomes.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Laura M. Vowels
- Department of Social and Political Sciences, FAmily and DevelOpment Research Centre (FADO), Institute of PsychologyUniversity of LausanneLausanneSwitzerland
| | - Matthew J. Vowels
- Department of Social and Political Sciences, Cognitive and Affective Regulation Laboratory (CARLA), Institute of PsychologyUniversity of LausanneLausanneSwitzerland
| | | | - Abigail Millings
- Department of Psychology, Sociology and Politics, Centre for Behavioural Science and Applied PsychologySheffield Hallam UniversitySheffieldUK
| | | |
Collapse
|
9
|
Wu X, Lin D, Li Q, Cai J, Huang H, Xiang T, Tan H. Investigating causal associations among gut microbiota, gut microbiota-derived metabolites, and gestational diabetes mellitus: a bidirectional Mendelian randomization study. Aging (Albany NY) 2023; 15:8345-8366. [PMID: 37616057 PMCID: PMC10497006 DOI: 10.18632/aging.204973] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2023] [Accepted: 07/20/2023] [Indexed: 08/25/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Previous studies have shown that gut microbiota (GM) and gut microbiota-derived metabolites are associated with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). However, the causal associations need to be treated with caution due to confounding factors and reverse causation. METHODS This study obtained genetic variants from genome-wide association study including GM (N = 18,340), GM-derived metabolites (N = 7,824), and GDM (5,687 cases and 117,89 controls). To examine the causal association, several methods were utilized, including inverse variance weighted, maximum likelihood, weighted median, MR-Egger, and MR.RAPS. Additionally, reverse Mendelian Randomization (MR) analysis and multivariable MR were conducted to confirm the causal direction and account for potential confounders, respectively. Furthermore, sensitivity analyses were performed to identify any potential heterogeneity and horizontal pleiotropy. RESULTS Greater abundance of Collinsella was detected to increase the risk of GDM. Our study also found suggestive associations among Coprobacter, Olsenella, Lachnoclostridium, Prevotella9, Ruminococcus2, Oscillibacte, and Methanobrevibacter with GDM. Besides, eight GM-derived metabolites were found to be causally associated with GDM. For the phenylalanine metabolism pathway, phenylacetic acid was found to be related to the risk of GDM. CONCLUSIONS The study first used the MR approach to explore the causal associations among GM, GM-derived metabolites, and GDM. Our findings may contribute to the prevention and treatment strategies for GDM by targeting GM and metabolites, and offer novel insights into the underlying mechanism of the disease.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Xinrui Wu
- School of Medicine, Jishou University, Jishou, China
- Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Dihui Lin
- School of Medicine, Jishou University, Jishou, China
| | - Qi Li
- Xiangxi Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Jishou, China
| | - Jiawang Cai
- School of Medicine, Jishou University, Jishou, China
| | | | - Tianyu Xiang
- Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Hongzhuan Tan
- Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, China
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Beydoun HA, Beydoun MA, Eid SM, Zonderman AB. Association of pulmonary artery catheter with in-hospital outcomes after cardiac surgery in the United States: National Inpatient Sample 1999-2019. Sci Rep 2023; 13:13541. [PMID: 37598267 PMCID: PMC10439892 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-40615-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2023] [Accepted: 08/14/2023] [Indexed: 08/21/2023] Open
Abstract
To examine associations of pulmonary artery catheter (PAC) use with in-hospital death and hospital length of stay (days) overall and within subgroups of hospitalized cardiac surgery patients. Secondary analyses of 1999-2019 National Inpatient Sample data were performed using 969,034 records (68% male, mean age: 65 years) representing adult cardiac surgery patients in the United States. A subgroup of 323,929 records corresponded to patients with congestive heart failure, pulmonary hypertension, mitral/tricuspid valve disease and/or combined surgeries. We evaluated PAC in relation to clinical outcomes using regression and targeted maximum likelihood estimation (TMLE). Hospitalized cardiac surgery patients experienced more in-hospital deaths and longer stays if they had ≥ 1 subgroup characteristics. For risk-adjusted models, in-hospital deaths were similar among recipients and non-recipients of PAC (odds ratio [OR] 1.04, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.96, 1.12), although PAC was associated with more in-hospital deaths among the subgroup with congestive heart failure (OR 1.14, 95% CI 1.03, 1.26). PAC recipients experienced shorter stays than non-recipients (β = - 0.40, 95% CI - 0.64, - 0.15), with variations by subgroup. We obtained comparable results using TMLE. In this retrospective cohort study, PAC was associated with shorter stays and similar in-hospital death rates among cardiac surgery patients. Worse clinical outcomes associated with PAC were observed only among patients with congestive heart failure. Prospective cohort studies and randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm and extend these preliminary findings.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Hind A Beydoun
- Department of Research Programs, Fort Belvoir Community Hospital, 9300 DeWitt Loop, Fort Belvoir, VA, 22060, USA.
| | - May A Beydoun
- Laboratory of Epidemiology and Population Sciences, National Institute on Aging Intramural Research Program, Baltimore, Maryland, 21224, United States
| | - Shaker M Eid
- Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, 21224, United States
| | - Alan B Zonderman
- Laboratory of Epidemiology and Population Sciences, National Institute on Aging Intramural Research Program, Baltimore, Maryland, 21224, United States
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Li Q, Gao J, Luo J, Lin D, Wu X. Mendelian randomization analyses support causal relationship between gut microbiota and childhood obesity. Front Pediatr 2023; 11:1229236. [PMID: 37593447 PMCID: PMC10427879 DOI: 10.3389/fped.2023.1229236] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2023] [Accepted: 07/13/2023] [Indexed: 08/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Childhood obesity (CO) is an increasing public health issue. Mounting evidence has shown that gut microbiota (GM) is closely related to CO. However, the causal association needs to be treated with caution due to confounding factors and reverse causation. Methods Data were obtained from the Microbiome Genome Consortium for GM as well as the Early Growth Genetics Consortium for childhood obesity and childhood body mass index (CBMI). Inverse variance weighted, maximum likelihood, weighted median, and MR.RAPS methods were applied to examine the causal association. Then replication dataset was used to validate the results and reverse Mendelian randomization analysis was performed to confirm the causal direction. Additionally, sensitivity analyses including Cochran's Q statistics, MR-Egger intercept, MR-PRESSO global test, and the leave-one-out analysis were conducted to detect the potential heterogeneity and horizontal pleiotropy. Results Our study found suggestive causal relationships between eight bacterial genera and the risk of childhood obesity (five for CO and four for CBMI). After validating the results in the replication dataset, we finally identified three childhood obesity-related GM including the genera Akkermansia, Intestinibacter, and Butyricimonas. Amongst these, the genus Akkermansia was both negatively associated with the risk of CO (OR = 0.574; 95% CI: 0.417, 0.789) and CBMI (β = -0.172; 95% CI: -0.306, -0.039). Conclusions In this study, we employed the MR approach to investigate the causal relationship between GM and CO, and discovered that the genus Akkermansia has a protective effect on both childhood obesity and BMI. Our findings may provide a potential strategy for preventing and intervening in CO, while also offering novel insights into the pathogenesis of CO from the perspective of GM.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Qi Li
- School of Medicine, Jishou University, Jishou, China
- Department for Infectious Disease Control and Prevention, Xiangxi Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Jishou, China
| | - Jiawei Gao
- School of Medicine, Jishou University, Jishou, China
| | - Jiashun Luo
- School of Medicine, Jishou University, Jishou, China
| | - Dihui Lin
- School of Medicine, Jishou University, Jishou, China
| | - Xinrui Wu
- School of Medicine, Jishou University, Jishou, China
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
Hilpert P, Vowels MR, Mestdagh M, Sels L. Emotion dynamic patterns between intimate relationship partners predict their separation two years later: A machine learning approach. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0288048. [PMID: 37410721 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0288048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2022] [Accepted: 06/17/2023] [Indexed: 07/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Contemporary emotion theories predict that how partners' emotions are coupled together across an interaction can inform on how well the relationship functions. However, few studies have compared how individual (i.e., mean, variability) and dyadic aspects of emotions (i.e., coupling) during interactions predict future relationship separation. In this exploratory study, we utilized machine learning methods to evaluate whether emotions during a positive and a negative interaction from 101 couples (N = 202 participants) predict relationship stability two years later (17 breakups). Although the negative interaction was not predictive, the positive was: Intra-individual variability of emotions as well as the coupling between partners' emotions predicted relationship separation. The present findings demonstrate that utilizing machine learning methods enables us to improve our theoretical understanding of complex patterns.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Peter Hilpert
- Department of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Matthew R Vowels
- Department of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
- Department of Psychology, University of Surrey, Guildford, United Kingdom
| | | | - Laura Sels
- Department of Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Wang Y, Ma J, Ma S, Wang J, Li J. Causal Evaluation of Post-Marketing Drugs for Drug-induced Liver Injury from Electronic Health Records. ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY SOCIETY. IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY SOCIETY. ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2023; 2023:1-4. [PMID: 38083643 DOI: 10.1109/embc40787.2023.10340721] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2023]
Abstract
Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is one of the most common and serious adverse drug reactions that can lead to acute liver failure and death. Detection of DILI and causal estimation of drug-hepatotoxicity association are of great importance for patient safety. This paper proposes a framework for causal estimation of post-marketing drugs for DILI from real-world electronic health record (EHR) data. Randomized clinical trials were replicated at scale by automatically generating different user and non-user cohorts for each potential drug, and average treatment effects (ATEs) of drugs were estimated using targeted maximum likelihood estimation. Ten years of real-world EHRs were used to validate the framework. Of all 1199 single-ingredient drugs analyzed, 7 novel and 7 known drug-hepatotoxicity associations were found to be causal.
Collapse
|
14
|
Zawadzki RS, Grill JD, Gillen DL. Frameworks for estimating causal effects in observational settings: comparing confounder adjustment and instrumental variables. BMC Med Res Methodol 2023; 23:122. [PMID: 37217854 PMCID: PMC10201752 DOI: 10.1186/s12874-023-01936-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2022] [Accepted: 04/25/2023] [Indexed: 05/24/2023] Open
Abstract
To estimate causal effects, analysts performing observational studies in health settings utilize several strategies to mitigate bias due to confounding by indication. There are two broad classes of approaches for these purposes: use of confounders and instrumental variables (IVs). Because such approaches are largely characterized by untestable assumptions, analysts must operate under an indefinite paradigm that these methods will work imperfectly. In this tutorial, we formalize a set of general principles and heuristics for estimating causal effects in the two approaches when the assumptions are potentially violated. This crucially requires reframing the process of observational studies as hypothesizing potential scenarios where the estimates from one approach are less inconsistent than the other. While most of our discussion of methodology centers around the linear setting, we touch upon complexities in non-linear settings and flexible procedures such as target minimum loss-based estimation and double machine learning. To demonstrate the application of our principles, we investigate the use of donepezil off-label for mild cognitive impairment. We compare and contrast results from confounder and IV methods, traditional and flexible, within our analysis and to a similar observational study and clinical trial.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Roy S Zawadzki
- Department of Statistics, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, USA.
| | - Joshua D Grill
- Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, USA
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, USA
| | - Daniel L Gillen
- Department of Statistics, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, USA
| |
Collapse
|
15
|
Blanche PF, Holt A, Scheike T. On logistic regression with right censored data, with or without competing risks, and its use for estimating treatment effects. LIFETIME DATA ANALYSIS 2023; 29:441-482. [PMID: 35799026 DOI: 10.1007/s10985-022-09564-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2021] [Accepted: 06/09/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Simple logistic regression can be adapted to deal with right-censoring by inverse probability of censoring weighting (IPCW). We here compare two such IPCW approaches, one based on weighting the outcome, the other based on weighting the estimating equations. We study the large sample properties of the two approaches and show that which of the two weighting methods is the most efficient depends on the censoring distribution. We show by theoretical computations that the methods can be surprisingly different in realistic settings. We further show how to use the two weighting approaches for logistic regression to estimate causal treatment effects, for both observational studies and randomized clinical trials (RCT). Several estimators for observational studies are compared and we present an application to registry data. We also revisit interesting robustness properties of logistic regression in the context of RCTs, with a particular focus on the IPCW weighting. We find that these robustness properties still hold when the censoring weights are correctly specified, but not necessarily otherwise.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Paul Frédéric Blanche
- Section of Biostatistics, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 5B, P.O.B. 2099, 1014, Copenhagen K, Denmark
- Department of Cardiology, Copenhagen University Hospital-Herlev and Gentofte, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Anders Holt
- Department of Cardiology, Copenhagen University Hospital-Herlev and Gentofte, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Thomas Scheike
- Section of Biostatistics, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 5B, P.O.B. 2099, 1014, Copenhagen K, Denmark.
| |
Collapse
|
16
|
Varga AN, Guevara Morel AE, Lokkerbol J, van Dongen JM, van Tulder MW, Bosmans JE. Dealing with confounding in observational studies: A scoping review of methods evaluated in simulation studies with single-point exposure. Stat Med 2023; 42:487-516. [PMID: 36562408 PMCID: PMC10107671 DOI: 10.1002/sim.9628] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2021] [Revised: 11/22/2022] [Accepted: 12/01/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
The aim of this article was to perform a scoping review of methods available for dealing with confounding when analyzing the effect of health care treatments with single-point exposure in observational data. We aim to provide an overview of methods and their performance assessed by simulation studies indexed in PubMed. We searched PubMed for simulation studies published until January 2021. Our search was restricted to studies evaluating binary treatments and binary and/or continuous outcomes. Information was extracted on the methods' assumptions, performance, and technical properties. Of 28,548 identified references, 127 studies were eligible for inclusion. Of them, 84 assessed 14 different methods (ie, groups of estimators that share assumptions and implementation) for dealing with measured confounding, and 43 assessed 10 different methods for dealing with unmeasured confounding. Results suggest that there are large differences in performance between methods and that the performance of a specific method is highly dependent on the estimator. Furthermore, the methods' assumptions regarding the specific data features also substantially influence the methods' performance. Finally, the methods result in different estimands (ie, target of inference), which can even vary within methods. In conclusion, when choosing a method to adjust for measured or unmeasured confounding it is important to choose the most appropriate estimand, while considering the population of interest, data structure, and whether the plausibility of the methods' required assumptions hold.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Anita Natalia Varga
- Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, The Netherlands
| | - Alejandra Elizabeth Guevara Morel
- Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, The Netherlands
| | - Joran Lokkerbol
- Centre of Economic Evaluation, Trimbos Institute (Netherlands Institute of Mental Health), Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Johanna Maria van Dongen
- Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, The Netherlands
| | - Maurits Willem van Tulder
- Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, The Netherlands.,Department Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Judith Ekkina Bosmans
- Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, The Netherlands
| |
Collapse
|
17
|
Vo TT. A cautionary note on the use of G-computation in population adjustment. Res Synth Methods 2023; 14:338-341. [PMID: 36633531 DOI: 10.1002/jrsm.1621] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2022] [Revised: 12/26/2022] [Accepted: 01/03/2023] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
In a recent issue of the Journal; Remiro-Azócar et al. introduce a new method to adjust for population difference between two trials; when the individual patient data (IPD) are only accessible for one study. The proposed method generates the covariate data for the trial without IPD; then using a G-computation approach to transport information about the treatment effect from the other study with IPD to this trial. The authors advocate the use of G-computation over matching-adjusted indirect comparison because (i) the former allows for "useful extrapolation" when there is poor case-mix overlap between populations; and (ii) nonparametric; data-adaptive methods can be used to reduce the risk of (outcome) model misspecification. In this commentary; we provide a different perspective from these arguments. Despite certain disagreements; we believe that the proposed data generation approaches can open new and interesting research directions for population adjustment methodology in the future.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tat-Thang Vo
- Department of Statistics and Data Science, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| |
Collapse
|
18
|
Dias A, Nunes HRDC, Ruiz-Frutos C, Gómez-Salgado J, Spröesser Alonso M, Bernardes JM, García-Iglesias JJ, Lacalle-Remigio JR. The impact of disease changes and mental health illness on readapted return to work after repeated sick leaves among Brazilian public university employees. Front Public Health 2023; 10:1026053. [PMID: 36699897 PMCID: PMC9868700 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.1026053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2022] [Accepted: 12/12/2022] [Indexed: 01/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction Health affects work absenteeism and productivity of workers, making it a relevant marker of an individual's professional development. Objectives The aims of this article were to investigate whether changes in the main cause of the sick leaves and the presence of mental health illnesses are associated with return to work with readaptation. Materials and methods A historical cohort study was carried out with non-work-related illnesses suffered by statutory workers of university campuses in a medium-sized city in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. Two exposures were measured: (a) changes, throughout medical examinations, in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) chapter regarding the main condition for the sick leave; and (b) having at least one episode of sick leave due to mental illness, with or without change in the ICD-10 chapter over the follow-up period. The outcome was defined as return to work with adapted conditions. The causal model was established a priori and tested using a multiple logistic regression (MLR) model considering the effects of several confounding factors, and then compared with the same estimators obtained using Targeted Machine Learning. Results Among workers in adapted conditions, 64% were health professionals, 34% had had changes in the ICD-10 chapter throughout the series of sick leaves, and 62% had diagnoses of mental health issues. In addition, they worked for less time at the university and were absent for longer periods. Having had a change in the illness condition reduced the chance of returning to work in another function by more than 30%, whereas having had at least one absence because of a cause related to mental and behavioral disorders more than doubled the chance of not returning to work in the same activity as before. Conclusion These results were independent of the analysis technique used, which allows concluding that there were no advantages in the use of targeted maximum likelihood estimation (TMLE), given its difficulties in access, use, and assumptions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Adriano Dias
- Department of Public Health, Botucatu Medical School, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Botucatu, Brazil,Public/Collective Health Graduate Program, Botucatu Medical School, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Botucatu, Brazil
| | - Hélio Rubens de Carvalho Nunes
- Department of Public Health, Botucatu Medical School, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Botucatu, Brazil,Public/Collective Health Graduate Program, Botucatu Medical School, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Botucatu, Brazil,Graduate Program in Nursing Academic Master's and Doctoral Programs, Botucatu Medical School, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Botucatu, Brazil
| | - Carlos Ruiz-Frutos
- Department of Sociology, Social Work and Public Health, Faculty of Labour Sciences, University of Huelva, Huelva, Spain,Safety and Health Postgraduate Programme, Universidad Espíritu Santo, Guayaquil, Ecuador
| | - Juan Gómez-Salgado
- Department of Sociology, Social Work and Public Health, Faculty of Labour Sciences, University of Huelva, Huelva, Spain,Safety and Health Postgraduate Programme, Universidad Espíritu Santo, Guayaquil, Ecuador,*Correspondence: Juan Gómez-Salgado ✉
| | - Melissa Spröesser Alonso
- Public/Collective Health Graduate Program, Botucatu Medical School, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Botucatu, Brazil
| | - João Marcos Bernardes
- Department of Public Health, Botucatu Medical School, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Botucatu, Brazil,Public/Collective Health Graduate Program, Botucatu Medical School, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Botucatu, Brazil
| | - Juan Jesús García-Iglesias
- Department of Sociology, Social Work and Public Health, Faculty of Labour Sciences, University of Huelva, Huelva, Spain
| | - Juan Ramón Lacalle-Remigio
- Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain
| |
Collapse
|
19
|
Tackney MS, Morris T, White I, Leyrat C, Diaz-Ordaz K, Williamson E. A comparison of covariate adjustment approaches under model misspecification in individually randomized trials. Trials 2023; 24:14. [PMID: 36609282 PMCID: PMC9817411 DOI: 10.1186/s13063-022-06967-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2021] [Accepted: 11/28/2022] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Adjustment for baseline covariates in randomized trials has been shown to lead to gains in power and can protect against chance imbalances in covariates. For continuous covariates, there is a risk that the the form of the relationship between the covariate and outcome is misspecified when taking an adjusted approach. Using a simulation study focusing on individually randomized trials with small sample sizes, we explore whether a range of adjustment methods are robust to misspecification, either in the covariate-outcome relationship or through an omitted covariate-treatment interaction. Specifically, we aim to identify potential settings where G-computation, inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW), augmented inverse probability of treatment weighting (AIPTW) and targeted maximum likelihood estimation (TMLE) offer improvement over the commonly used analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Our simulations show that all adjustment methods are generally robust to model misspecification if adjusting for a few covariates, sample size is 100 or larger, and there are no covariate-treatment interactions. When there is a non-linear interaction of treatment with a skewed covariate and sample size is small, all adjustment methods can suffer from bias; however, methods that allow for interactions (such as G-computation with interaction and IPTW) show improved results compared to ANCOVA. When there are a high number of covariates to adjust for, ANCOVA retains good properties while other methods suffer from under- or over-coverage. An outstanding issue for G-computation, IPTW and AIPTW in small samples is that standard errors are underestimated; they should be used with caution without the availability of small-sample corrections, development of which is needed. These findings are relevant for covariate adjustment in interim analyses of larger trials.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mia S. Tackney
- grid.8991.90000 0004 0425 469XDepartment of Medical Statistics, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK ,grid.5335.00000000121885934MRC Biostatistics Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Tim Morris
- grid.415052.70000 0004 0606 323XMRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL, London, UK
| | - Ian White
- grid.415052.70000 0004 0606 323XMRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL, London, UK
| | - Clemence Leyrat
- grid.8991.90000 0004 0425 469XDepartment of Medical Statistics, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
| | - Karla Diaz-Ordaz
- grid.8991.90000 0004 0425 469XDepartment of Medical Statistics, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK ,grid.83440.3b0000000121901201Department of Statistical Science, UCL, London, United Kingdom
| | - Elizabeth Williamson
- grid.8991.90000 0004 0425 469XDepartment of Medical Statistics, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
| |
Collapse
|
20
|
An Alternative Perspective on the Robust Poisson Method for Estimating Risk or Prevalence Ratios. Epidemiology 2023; 34:1-7. [PMID: 36125349 DOI: 10.1097/ede.0000000000001544] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
The robust Poisson method is becoming increasingly popular when estimating the association of exposures with a binary outcome. Unlike the logistic regression model, the robust Poisson method yields results that can be interpreted as risk or prevalence ratios. In addition, it does not suffer from frequent nonconvergence problems such as the most common implementations of maximum likelihood estimators of the log-binomial model. However, using a Poisson distribution to model a binary outcome may seem counterintuitive. Methodologic papers have often presented this as a good approximation to the more natural binomial distribution. In this article, we provide an alternative perspective to the robust Poisson method based on the semiparametric theory. This perspective highlights that the robust Poisson method does not require assuming a Poisson distribution for the outcome. In fact, the method only assumes a log-linear relation between the risk or prevalence of the outcome and the explanatory variables. This assumption and the consequences of its violation are discussed. We also provide suggestions to reduce the risk of violating the modeling assumption. Additionally, we discuss and contrast the robust Poisson method with other approaches for estimating exposure risk or prevalence ratios. See video abstract at, http://links.lww.com/EDE/B987 .
Collapse
|
21
|
Kühne F, Schomaker M, Stojkov I, Jahn B, Conrads-Frank A, Siebert S, Sroczynski G, Puntscher S, Schmid D, Schnell-Inderst P, Siebert U. Causal evidence in health decision making: methodological approaches of causal inference and health decision science. GERMAN MEDICAL SCIENCE : GMS E-JOURNAL 2022; 20:Doc12. [PMID: 36742460 PMCID: PMC9869404 DOI: 10.3205/000314] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Objectives Public health decision making is a complex process based on thorough and comprehensive health technology assessments involving the comparison of different strategies, values and tradeoffs under uncertainty. This process must be based on best available evidence and plausible assumptions. Causal inference and health decision science are two methodological approaches providing information to help guide decision making in health care. Both approaches are quantitative methods that use statistical and modeling techniques and simplifying assumptions to mimic the complexity of the real world. We intend to review and lay out both disciplines with their aims, strengths and limitations based on a combination of textbook knowledge and expert experience. Methods To help understanding and differentiating the methodological approaches of causal inference and health decision science, we reviewed both methods with the focus on aims, research questions, methods, assumptions, limitations and challenges, and software. For each methodological approach, we established a group of four experts from our own working group to carefully review and summarize each method, followed by structured discussion rounds and written reviews, in which the experts from all disciplines including HTA and medicine were involved. The entire expert group discussed objectives, strengths and limitations of both methodological areas, and potential synergies. Finally, we derived recommendations for further research and provide a brief outlook on future trends. Results Causal inference methods aim for drawing causal conclusions from empirical data on the relationship of pre-specified interventions on a specific target outcome and apply a counterfactual framework and statistical techniques to derive causal effects of exposures or interventions from these data. Causal inference is based on a causal diagram, more specifically, a directed acyclic graph (DAG), which encodes the assumptions regarding the causal relations between variables. Depending on the type of confounding and selection bias, traditional statistical methods or more complex g-methods are needed to derive valid causal effects. Besides the correct specification of the DAG and the statistical model, assumptions such as consistency, positivity, and exchangeability must be checked when aiming at causal inference. Health decision science aims for guiding policy decision making regarding health interventions considering and balancing multiple competing objectives of a decision based on data from multiple sources and studies, for example prevalence studies, clinical trials and long-term observational routine effectiveness studies, and studies on preferences and costs. It involves decision analysis, a systematic, explicit and quantitative framework to guide decisions under uncertainty. Decision analyses are based on decision-analytic models to mimic the course of disease as well as aspects and consequences of the intervention in order to quantitatively optimize the decision. Depending on the type of decision problem, decision trees, state-transition models, discrete event simulation models, dynamic transmission models, or other model types are applied. Models must be validated against observed data, and comprehensive sensitivity analyses must be performed to assess uncertainty. Besides the appropriate choice of the model type and the valid specification of the model structure, it must be checked if input parameters of effects can be interpreted as causal parameters in the model. Otherwise results will be biased. Conclusions Both causal inference and health decision science aim for providing best causal evidence for informed health decision making. The strengths and limitations of both methods differ and a good understanding of both methods is essential for correct application but also for correct interpretation of findings from the described methods. Importantly, decision-analytic modeling should be combined with causal inference when developing guidance and recommendations regarding decisions on health care interventions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Felicitas Kühne
- Institute of Public Health, Medical Decision Making and Health Technology Assessment, Department of Public Health, Health Services Research and Health Technology Assessment, UMIT TIROL – University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology, Hall i.T., Austria
| | - Michael Schomaker
- Institute of Public Health, Medical Decision Making and Health Technology Assessment, Department of Public Health, Health Services Research and Health Technology Assessment, UMIT TIROL – University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology, Hall i.T., Austria
- Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology & Research, University of Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Igor Stojkov
- Institute of Public Health, Medical Decision Making and Health Technology Assessment, Department of Public Health, Health Services Research and Health Technology Assessment, UMIT TIROL – University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology, Hall i.T., Austria
| | - Beate Jahn
- Institute of Public Health, Medical Decision Making and Health Technology Assessment, Department of Public Health, Health Services Research and Health Technology Assessment, UMIT TIROL – University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology, Hall i.T., Austria
- Division of Health Technology Assessment, ONCOTYROL – Center for Personalized Cancer Medicine, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Annette Conrads-Frank
- Institute of Public Health, Medical Decision Making and Health Technology Assessment, Department of Public Health, Health Services Research and Health Technology Assessment, UMIT TIROL – University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology, Hall i.T., Austria
| | - Silke Siebert
- Institute of Public Health, Medical Decision Making and Health Technology Assessment, Department of Public Health, Health Services Research and Health Technology Assessment, UMIT TIROL – University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology, Hall i.T., Austria
| | - Gaby Sroczynski
- Institute of Public Health, Medical Decision Making and Health Technology Assessment, Department of Public Health, Health Services Research and Health Technology Assessment, UMIT TIROL – University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology, Hall i.T., Austria
| | - Sibylle Puntscher
- Institute of Public Health, Medical Decision Making and Health Technology Assessment, Department of Public Health, Health Services Research and Health Technology Assessment, UMIT TIROL – University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology, Hall i.T., Austria
| | - Daniela Schmid
- Institute of Public Health, Medical Decision Making and Health Technology Assessment, Department of Public Health, Health Services Research and Health Technology Assessment, UMIT TIROL – University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology, Hall i.T., Austria
| | - Petra Schnell-Inderst
- Institute of Public Health, Medical Decision Making and Health Technology Assessment, Department of Public Health, Health Services Research and Health Technology Assessment, UMIT TIROL – University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology, Hall i.T., Austria
| | - Uwe Siebert
- Institute of Public Health, Medical Decision Making and Health Technology Assessment, Department of Public Health, Health Services Research and Health Technology Assessment, UMIT TIROL – University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology, Hall i.T., Austria
- Division of Health Technology Assessment, ONCOTYROL – Center for Personalized Cancer Medicine, Innsbruck, Austria
- Center for Health Decision Science, Departments of Epidemiology and Health Policy & Management, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
- Program on Cardiovascular Research, Institute for Technology Assessment and Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
22
|
Léger M, Chatton A, Le Borgne F, Pirracchio R, Lasocki S, Foucher Y. Causal inference in case of near-violation of positivity: comparison of methods. Biom J 2022; 64:1389-1403. [PMID: 34993990 DOI: 10.1002/bimj.202000323] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2020] [Revised: 09/07/2021] [Accepted: 10/24/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
In causal studies, the near-violation of the positivity may occur by chance, because of sample-to-sample fluctuation despite the theoretical veracity of the positivity assumption in the population. It may mostly happen when the exposure prevalence is low or when the sample size is small. We aimed to compare the robustness of g-computation (GC), inverse probability weighting (IPW), truncated IPW, targeted maximum likelihood estimation (TMLE), and truncated TMLE in this situation, using simulations and one real application. We also tested different extrapolation situations for the sub-group with a positivity violation. The results illustrated that the near-violation of the positivity impacted all methods. We demonstrated the robustness of GC and TMLE-based methods. Truncation helped in limiting the bias in near-violation situations, but at the cost of bias in normal conditions. The application illustrated the variability of the results between the methods and the importance of choosing the most appropriate one. In conclusion, compared to propensity score-based methods, methods based on outcome regression should be preferred when suspecting near-violation of the positivity assumption.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Maxime Léger
- INSERM UMR 1246 - SPHERE, Université de Nantes, Université de Tours, Nantes, France.,Département d'Anesthésie-Réanimation, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire d'Angers, Angers, France
| | - Arthur Chatton
- INSERM UMR 1246 - SPHERE, Université de Nantes, Université de Tours, Nantes, France.,IDBC-A2COM, Nantes, France
| | - Florent Le Borgne
- INSERM UMR 1246 - SPHERE, Université de Nantes, Université de Tours, Nantes, France.,IDBC-A2COM, Nantes, France
| | - Romain Pirracchio
- Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Sigismond Lasocki
- Département d'Anesthésie-Réanimation, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire d'Angers, Angers, France
| | - Yohann Foucher
- INSERM UMR 1246 - SPHERE, Université de Nantes, Université de Tours, Nantes, France.,Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nantes, Nantes, France
| |
Collapse
|
23
|
Sciannameo V, Fadini GP, Bottigliengo D, Avogaro A, Baldi I, Gregori D, Berchialla P. Assessment of Glucose Lowering Medications' Effectiveness for Cardiovascular Clinical Risk Management of Real-World Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: Targeted Maximum Likelihood Estimation under Model Misspecification and Missing Outcomes. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2022; 19:14825. [PMID: 36429543 PMCID: PMC9690556 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph192214825] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2022] [Revised: 10/24/2022] [Accepted: 11/07/2022] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
The results from many cardiovascular (CV) outcome trials suggest that glucose lowering medications (GLMs) are effective for the CV clinical risk management of type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients. The aim of this study is to compare the effectiveness of two GLMs (SGLT2i and GLP-1RA) for the CV clinical risk management of T2D patients in a real-world setting, by simultaneously reducing glycated hemoglobin, body weight, and systolic blood pressure. Data from the real-world Italian multicenter retrospective study Dapagliflozin Real World evideNce in Type 2 Diabetes (DARWINT 2D) are analyzed. Different statistical approaches are compared to deal with the real-world-associated issues, which can arise from model misspecification, nonrandomized treatment assignment, and a high percentage of missingness in the outcome, and can potentially bias the marginal treatment effect (MTE) estimate and thus have an influence on the clinical risk management of patients. We compare the logistic regression (LR), propensity score (PS)-based methods, and the targeted maximum likelihood estimator (TMLE), which allows for the use of machine learning (ML) models. Furthermore, a simulation study is performed, resembling the structure of the conditional dependencies among the main variables in DARWIN-T2D. LR and PS methods do not underline any difference in the effectiveness regarding the attainment of combined CV risk factor goals between the two treatments. TMLE suggests instead that dapagliflozin is significantly more effective than GLP-1RA for the CV risk management of T2D patients. The results from the simulation study suggest that TMLE has the lowest bias and SE for the estimate of the MTE.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Veronica Sciannameo
- Centre for Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Public Health, Department of Clinical and Biological Sciences, University of Turin, Regione Gonzole 10, 10043 Orbassano, Italy
| | | | - Daniele Bottigliengo
- Unit of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Public Health, Department of Cardiac, Thoracic, Vascular Sciences and Public Health, University of Padova, 35128 Padova, Italy
| | - Angelo Avogaro
- Department of Medicine, University of Padova, 35128 Padova, Italy
| | - Ileana Baldi
- Unit of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Public Health, Department of Cardiac, Thoracic, Vascular Sciences and Public Health, University of Padova, 35128 Padova, Italy
| | - Dario Gregori
- Unit of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Public Health, Department of Cardiac, Thoracic, Vascular Sciences and Public Health, University of Padova, 35128 Padova, Italy
| | - Paola Berchialla
- Centre for Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Public Health, Department of Clinical and Biological Sciences, University of Turin, Regione Gonzole 10, 10043 Orbassano, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
24
|
Vowels LM, Vowels MJ, Carnelley KB, Kumashiro M. A Machine Learning Approach to Predicting Perceived Partner Support From Relational and Individual Variables. SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PERSONALITY SCIENCE 2022. [DOI: 10.1177/19485506221114982] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Perceiving one’s partner as supportive is considered essential for relationships, but we know little about which factors are central to predicting perceived partner support. Traditional statistical techniques are ill-equipped to compare a large number of potential predictor variables and cannot answer this question. This research used machine learning analysis (random forest with Shapley values) to identify the most salient self-report predictors of perceived partner support cross-sectionally and 6 months later. We analyzed data from five dyadic data sets ( N = 550 couples) enabling us to have greater confidence in the findings and ensure generalizability. Our novel results advance the literature by showing that relationship variables and attachment avoidance are central to perceived partner support, whereas partner similarity, other individual differences, individual well-being, and demographics explain little variance in perceiving partners as supportive. The findings are crucial in constraining and further developing our theories on perceived partner support.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Laura M. Vowels
- University of Southampton, UK
- University of Lausanne, Switzerland
| | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
25
|
Diop SA, Duchesne T, G. Cumming S, Diop A, Talbot D. Confounding adjustment methods for multi-level treatment comparisons under lack of positivity and unknown model specification. J Appl Stat 2022; 49:2570-2592. [PMID: 35757044 PMCID: PMC9225669 DOI: 10.1080/02664763.2021.1911966] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/04/2022]
Abstract
Imbalances in covariates between treatment groups are frequent in observational studies and can lead to biased comparisons. Various adjustment methods can be employed to correct these biases in the context of multi-level treatments (> 2). Analytical challenges, such as positivity violations and incorrect model specification due to unknown functional relationships between covariates and treatment or outcome, may affect their ability to yield unbiased results. Such challenges were expected in a comparison of fire-suppression interventions for preventing fire growth. We identified the overlap weights, augmented overlap weights, bias-corrected matching and targeted maximum likelihood as methods with the best potential to address those challenges. A simple variance estimator for the overlap weight estimators that can naturally be combined with machine learning is proposed. In a simulation study, we investigated the performance of these methods as well as those of simpler alternatives. Adjustment methods that included an outcome modeling component performed better than those that focused on the treatment mechanism in our simulations. Additionally, machine learning implementation was observed to efficiently compensate for the unknown model specification for the former methods, but not the latter. Based on these results, we compared the effectiveness of fire-suppression interventions using the augmented overlap weight estimator.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- S. Arona Diop
- Département de mathématiques et de statistique, Université Laval, Québec, Canada
| | - Thierry Duchesne
- Département de mathématiques et de statistique, Université Laval, Québec, Canada
| | - Steven G. Cumming
- Département des sciences du bois et de la forêt, Université Laval, Québec, Canada
| | - Awa Diop
- Département de médecine sociale et préventive, Université Laval, Québec, Canada
| | - Denis Talbot
- Département de médecine sociale et préventive, Université Laval, Québec, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
26
|
Son N, Cui Y, Xi W. Association Between Telomere Length and Skin Cancer and Aging: A Mendelian Randomization Analysis. Front Genet 2022; 13:931785. [PMID: 35903361 PMCID: PMC9315360 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2022.931785] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2022] [Accepted: 06/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: Telomere shortening is a hallmark of cellular senescence. However, telomere length (TL)-related cellular senescence has varying effects in different cancers, resulting in a paradoxical relationship between senescence and cancer. Therefore, we used observational epidemiological studies to investigate the association between TL and skin cancer and aging, and to explore whether such a paradoxical relationship exists in skin tissue. Methods: This study employed two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) to analyze the causal relationship between TL and skin cancer [melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers (NMSCs)] and aging. We studied single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) obtained from pooled data belonging to genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in the literature and biobanks. Quality control was performed using pleiotropy, heterogeneity, and sensitivity analyses. Results: We used five algorithms to analyze the causal relationship between TL and skin aging, melanoma, and NMSCs, and obtained consistent results. TL shortening reduced NMSC and melanoma susceptibility risk with specific odds ratios (ORs) of 1.0344 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.0168–1.0524, p = 0.01] and 1.0127 (95% CI: 1.0046–1.0209, p = 6.36E-07), respectively. Conversely, TL shortening was validated to increase the odds of skin aging (OR = 0.96, 95% CI: 0.9332–0.9956, p = 0.03). Moreover, the MR-Egger, maximum likelihood, and inverse variance weighted (IVW) methods found significant heterogeneity among instrumental variable (IV) estimates (identified as MR-Egger skin aging Q = 76.72, p = 1.36E-04; melanoma Q = 97.10, p = 1.62E-07; NMSCsQ = 82.02, p = 1.90E-05). The leave-one-out analysis also showed that the SNP sensitivity was robust to each result. Conclusion: This study found that TL shortening may promote skin aging development and reduce the risk of cutaneous melanoma and NMSCs. The results provide a reference for future research on the causal relationship between skin aging and cancer in clinical practice.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Wang Xi
- *Correspondence: Yankun Cui, ; Wang Xi,
| |
Collapse
|
27
|
Li H, Rosete S, Coyle J, Phillips RV, Hejazi NS, Malenica I, Arnold BF, Benjamin-Chung J, Mertens A, Colford JM, van der Laan MJ, Hubbard AE. Evaluating the robustness of targeted maximum likelihood estimators via realistic simulations in nutrition intervention trials. Stat Med 2022; 41:2132-2165. [PMID: 35172378 PMCID: PMC10362909 DOI: 10.1002/sim.9348] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2021] [Revised: 01/20/2022] [Accepted: 01/26/2022] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Several recently developed methods have the potential to harness machine learning in the pursuit of target quantities inspired by causal inference, including inverse weighting, doubly robust estimating equations and substitution estimators like targeted maximum likelihood estimation. There are even more recent augmentations of these procedures that can increase robustness, by adding a layer of cross-validation (cross-validated targeted maximum likelihood estimation and double machine learning, as applied to substitution and estimating equation approaches, respectively). While these methods have been evaluated individually on simulated and experimental data sets, a comprehensive analysis of their performance across real data based simulations have yet to be conducted. In this work, we benchmark multiple widely used methods for estimation of the average treatment effect using ten different nutrition intervention studies data. A nonparametric regression method, undersmoothed highly adaptive lasso, is used to generate the simulated distribution which preserves important features from the observed data and reproduces a set of true target parameters. For each simulated data, we apply the methods above to estimate the average treatment effects as well as their standard errors and resulting confidence intervals. Based on the analytic results, a general recommendation is put forth for use of the cross-validated variants of both substitution and estimating equation estimators. We conclude that the additional layer of cross-validation helps in avoiding unintentional over-fitting of nuisance parameter functionals and leads to more robust inferences.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Haodong Li
- Divisions of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Sonali Rosete
- Divisions of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Jeremy Coyle
- Divisions of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Rachael V Phillips
- Divisions of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Nima S Hejazi
- Divisions of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Ivana Malenica
- Divisions of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Benjamin F Arnold
- Proctor Foundation, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Jade Benjamin-Chung
- Epidemiology & Population Health, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA
| | - Andrew Mertens
- Divisions of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - John M Colford
- Divisions of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Mark J van der Laan
- Divisions of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Alan E Hubbard
- Divisions of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
| |
Collapse
|
28
|
Clinical Trials with External Control: Beyond Propensity Score Matching. STATISTICS IN BIOSCIENCES 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s12561-022-09341-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
|
29
|
Grzywacz NM, Aleem H. Does Amount of Information Support Aesthetic Values? Front Neurosci 2022; 16:805658. [PMID: 35392414 PMCID: PMC8982361 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.805658] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2021] [Accepted: 02/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Obtaining information from the world is important for survival. The brain, therefore, has special mechanisms to extract as much information as possible from sensory stimuli. Hence, given its importance, the amount of available information may underlie aesthetic values. Such information-based aesthetic values would be significant because they would compete with others to drive decision-making. In this article, we ask, "What is the evidence that amount of information support aesthetic values?" An important concept in the measurement of informational volume is entropy. Research on aesthetic values has thus used Shannon entropy to evaluate the contribution of quantity of information. We review here the concepts of information and aesthetic values, and research on the visual and auditory systems to probe whether the brain uses entropy or other relevant measures, specially, Fisher information, in aesthetic decisions. We conclude that information measures contribute to these decisions in two ways: first, the absolute quantity of information can modulate aesthetic preferences for certain sensory patterns. However, the preference for volume of information is highly individualized, with information-measures competing with organizing principles, such as rhythm and symmetry. In addition, people tend to be resistant to too much entropy, but not necessarily, high amounts of Fisher information. We show that this resistance may stem in part from the distribution of amount of information in natural sensory stimuli. Second, the measurement of entropic-like quantities over time reveal that they can modulate aesthetic decisions by varying degrees of surprise given temporally integrated expectations. We propose that amount of information underpins complex aesthetic values, possibly informing the brain on the allocation of resources or the situational appropriateness of some cognitive models.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Norberto M. Grzywacz
- Department of Psychology, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
- Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Neuroscience, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
- Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, United States
| | - Hassan Aleem
- Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, United States
| |
Collapse
|
30
|
Wong AK, Balzer LB. State-Level Masking Mandates and COVID-19 Outcomes in the United States: A Demonstration of the Causal Roadmap. Epidemiology 2022; 33:228-236. [PMID: 34907975 DOI: 10.1097/ede.0000000000001453] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND We sought to investigate the effect of public masking mandates in US states on COVID-19 at the national level in Fall 2020. Specifically, we aimed to evaluate how the relative growth of COVID-19 cases and deaths would have differed if all states had issued a mandate to mask in public by 1 September 2020 versus if all states had delayed issuing such a mandate. METHODS We applied the Causal Roadmap, a formal framework for causal and statistical inference. We defined the outcome as the state-specific relative increase in cumulative cases and in cumulative deaths 21, 30, 45, and 60 days after 1 September. Despite the natural experiment occurring at the state-level, the causal effect of masking policies on COVID-19 outcomes was not identifiable. Nonetheless, we specified the target statistical parameter as the adjusted rate ratio (aRR): the expected outcome with early implementation divided by the expected outcome with delayed implementation, after adjusting for state-level confounders. To minimize strong estimation assumptions, primary analyses used targeted maximum likelihood estimation with Super Learner. RESULTS After 60 days and at a national level, early implementation was associated with a 9% reduction in new COVID-19 cases (aRR = 0.91 [95% CI = 0.88, 0.95]) and a 16% reduction in new COVID-19 deaths (aRR = 0.84 [95% CI = 0.76, 0.93]). CONCLUSIONS Although lack of identifiability prohibited causal interpretations, application of the Causal Roadmap facilitated estimation and inference of statistical associations, providing timely answers to pressing questions in the COVID-19 response.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Angus K Wong
- Department of Biostatistics & Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA
| | | |
Collapse
|
31
|
Smith MJ, Mansournia MA, Maringe C, Zivich PN, Cole SR, Leyrat C, Belot A, Rachet B, Luque-Fernandez MA. Introduction to computational causal inference using reproducible Stata, R, and Python code: A tutorial. Stat Med 2022; 41:407-432. [PMID: 34713468 DOI: 10.1002/sim.9234] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2021] [Revised: 10/08/2021] [Accepted: 10/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
The main purpose of many medical studies is to estimate the effects of a treatment or exposure on an outcome. However, it is not always possible to randomize the study participants to a particular treatment, therefore observational study designs may be used. There are major challenges with observational studies; one of which is confounding. Controlling for confounding is commonly performed by direct adjustment of measured confounders; although, sometimes this approach is suboptimal due to modeling assumptions and misspecification. Recent advances in the field of causal inference have dealt with confounding by building on classical standardization methods. However, these recent advances have progressed quickly with a relative paucity of computational-oriented applied tutorials contributing to some confusion in the use of these methods among applied researchers. In this tutorial, we show the computational implementation of different causal inference estimators from a historical perspective where new estimators were developed to overcome the limitations of the previous estimators (ie, nonparametric and parametric g-formula, inverse probability weighting, double-robust, and data-adaptive estimators). We illustrate the implementation of different methods using an empirical example from the Connors study based on intensive care medicine, and most importantly, we provide reproducible and commented code in Stata, R, and Python for researchers to adapt in their own observational study. The code can be accessed at https://github.com/migariane/Tutorial_Computational_Causal_Inference_Estimators.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Matthew J Smith
- Inequalities in Cancer Outcomes Network, Department of Non-communicable Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
| | - Mohammad A Mansournia
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Camille Maringe
- Inequalities in Cancer Outcomes Network, Department of Non-communicable Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
| | - Paul N Zivich
- Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
- Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
| | - Stephen R Cole
- Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
| | - Clémence Leyrat
- Inequalities in Cancer Outcomes Network, Department of Non-communicable Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
| | - Aurélien Belot
- Inequalities in Cancer Outcomes Network, Department of Non-communicable Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
| | - Bernard Rachet
- Inequalities in Cancer Outcomes Network, Department of Non-communicable Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
| | - Miguel A Luque-Fernandez
- Inequalities in Cancer Outcomes Network, Department of Non-communicable Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
- Non-communicable Disease and Cancer Epidemiology Group, Instituto de Investigacion Biosanitaria de Granada (ibs.GRANADA), Andalusian School of Public Health, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
- Biomedical Network Research Centers of Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain
| |
Collapse
|
32
|
Recombinant hepatitis B vaccine uptake and multiple sclerosis risk: A marginal structural modeling approach. Mult Scler Relat Disord 2022; 58:103487. [PMID: 35007824 DOI: 10.1016/j.msard.2022.103487] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2021] [Revised: 12/17/2021] [Accepted: 01/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND There has been an ongoing debate regarding the association between uptake of recombinant vaccine against hepatitis B virus (HBV) and multiple sclerosis (MS) risk. This case-control study tested the hypothesis whether recombinant HBV vaccination status is causally associated with MS risk using targeted maximum likelihood estimation (TMLE) technique. METHODS Confirmed 110 MS cases and age (± 5 years), sex and nativity matched (1:1) 110 controls were enrolled. Data were collected on sociodemographics, environmental factors, history of vaccinations and past morbidities through face-to-face interview both from cases and controls. To estimate the causal parameters including marginal odds ratio (OR), causal relative risk (RR), causal risk difference (RD) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs), we implemented case-control-weighted TMLE for a matched design that uses data-adaptive flexible stacked ensemble-based machine learning system namely Super Learner. Additionally, population preventable fraction (PPF) of MS risk was computed. RESULTS This study demonstrated a significant nonspecific protective effect of HBV vaccination against MS risk (marginal OR 0.44; 95% CI: 0.19-0.68; p = 0.006; causal RR 0.64, 95% CI: 0.46-0.89; p = 0.004). The significant causal RD showed that among the vaccinated 19% fewer MS cases occurred owing to their HBV vaccination (causal RD -0.19; 95% CI: -0.32 - -0.06; p = 0.014). In the source population, vaccination against HBV led to 17.4% reduced MS risk (PPF = 17.4%; 95% CI: 3.8%, 36.3%). CONCLUSION The results suggest a significant nonspecific protective effect of recombinant HBV vaccine against MS risk. Future studies may contemplate to confirm these results.
Collapse
|
33
|
Benasseur I, Talbot D, Durand M, Holbrook A, Matteau A, Potter BJ, Renoux C, Schnitzer ME, Tarride JÉ, Guertin JR. A Comparison of Confounder Selection and Adjustment Methods for Estimating Causal Effects Using Large Healthcare Databases. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf 2021; 31:424-433. [PMID: 34953160 PMCID: PMC9304306 DOI: 10.1002/pds.5403] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2021] [Revised: 12/16/2021] [Accepted: 12/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE Confounding adjustment is required to estimate the effect of an exposure on an outcome in observational studies. However, variable selection and unmeasured confounding are particularly challenging when analyzing large healthcare data. Machine learning methods may help address these challenges. The objective was to evaluate the capacity of such methods to select confounders and reduce unmeasured confounding bias. METHODS A simulation study with known true effects was conducted. Completely synthetic and partially synthetic data incorporating real large healthcare data were generated. We compared Bayesian Adjustment for Confounding, Generalized Bayesian Causal Effect Estimation, Group Lasso and Doubly Robust Estimation, high-dimensional propensity score, and scalable collaborative targeted maximum likelihood algorithms. For the high-dimensional propensity score, two adjustment approaches targeting the effect in the whole population were considered: full matching and inverse probability weighting. RESULTS In scenarios without hidden confounders, most methods were essentially unbiased. The bias and variance of the high-dimensional propensity score varied considerably according to the number of variables selected by the algorithm. In scenarios with hidden confounders, substantial bias reduction was achieved by using machine learning methods to identify proxies as compared to adjusting only by observed confounders. High-dimensional propensity score and Group Lasso performed poorly in the partially synthetic simulation. Bayesian Adjustment for Confounding, Generalized Bayesian Causal Effect Estimation, and scalable collaborative targeted maximum likelihood algorithms performed particularly well. CONCLUSIONS Machine learning can help to identify measured confounders in large healthcare databases. They can also capitalize on proxies of unmeasured confounders to substantially reduce residual confounding bias. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Imane Benasseur
- Département de mathématiques et de statistique, Université Laval, Québec, Qc, Canada.,Unité santé des populations et pratiques optimales en santé, CHU de Québec - Université Laval research center, Québec, Qc, Canada
| | - Denis Talbot
- Unité santé des populations et pratiques optimales en santé, CHU de Québec - Université Laval research center, Québec, Qc, Canada.,Département de médecine sociale et préventive, Université Laval, Québec, Qc, Canada
| | - Madeleine Durand
- Département de médecine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Qc, Canada.,CHUM Research Center, Montreal, Qc, Canada
| | - Anne Holbrook
- Division of Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology, Department of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, On, Canada
| | - Alexis Matteau
- Département de médecine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Qc, Canada.,CHUM Research Center, Montreal, Qc, Canada
| | - Brian J Potter
- Département de médecine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Qc, Canada.,CHUM Research Center, Montreal, Qc, Canada
| | - Christel Renoux
- Centre for Clinical Epidemiology, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research - Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Qc, Canada.,Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health, McGill University, Montréal, Qc, Canada.,Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University, Montréal, Qc, Canada
| | - Mireille E Schnitzer
- Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health, McGill University, Montréal, Qc, Canada.,Faculty of Pharmacy, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Qc, Canada.,École de santé publique - Département de médecine sociale et préventive, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Qc, Canada
| | - Jean-Éric Tarride
- Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact, McMaster University, Hamilton, On, Canada.,Programs for Assessment of Technology in Health, The Research Institute of St. Joseph's, Hamilton, On, Canada
| | - Jason R Guertin
- Unité santé des populations et pratiques optimales en santé, CHU de Québec - Université Laval research center, Québec, Qc, Canada.,Département de médecine sociale et préventive, Université Laval, Québec, Qc, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
34
|
Chatton A, Borgne FL, Leyrat C, Foucher Y. G-computation and doubly robust standardisation for continuous-time data: A comparison with inverse probability weighting. Stat Methods Med Res 2021; 31:706-718. [PMID: 34861799 DOI: 10.1177/09622802211047345] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
In time-to-event settings, g-computation and doubly robust estimators are based on discrete-time data. However, many biological processes are evolving continuously over time. In this paper, we extend the g-computation and the doubly robust standardisation procedures to a continuous-time context. We compare their performance to the well-known inverse-probability-weighting estimator for the estimation of the hazard ratio and restricted mean survival times difference, using a simulation study. Under a correct model specification, all methods are unbiased, but g-computation and the doubly robust standardisation are more efficient than inverse-probability-weighting. We also analyse two real-world datasets to illustrate the practical implementation of these approaches. We have updated the R package RISCA to facilitate the use of these methods and their dissemination.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Arthur Chatton
- INSERM UMR 1246 - SPHERE, 27045Nantes University, Tours University, France.,IDBC-A2COM, Pacé, France
| | - Florent Le Borgne
- INSERM UMR 1246 - SPHERE, 27045Nantes University, Tours University, France.,IDBC-A2COM, Pacé, France
| | - Clémence Leyrat
- Department of Medical Statistics, 4906London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK.,Inequalities in Cancer Outcomes Network (ICON), 4906London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK
| | - Yohann Foucher
- INSERM UMR 1246 - SPHERE, 27045Nantes University, Tours University, France.,26922Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nantes, France
| |
Collapse
|
35
|
Sun Y, Chen X, Wang S, Deng M, Xie Y, Wang X, Chen J, Hesketh T. Gluten-free Diet Reduces the Risk of Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Mendelian Randomization Analysis. Front Genet 2021; 12:684535. [PMID: 34899821 PMCID: PMC8660079 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2021.684535] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2021] [Accepted: 10/18/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: Whether a gluten-free diet (GFD) is a cause of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) remains controversial. We aim at exploring the causal relationship between gluten intake and IBS within Mendelian randomization (MR) design. Methods: We conducted a two-sample MR and selected single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with GFD as instrumental variables (IVs). SNPs and genetic associations with GFD and IBS were obtained from the latest genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in Europeans (GFD: cases: 1,376; controls: 63,573; IBS: cases:1,121; controls: 360,073). We performed inverse variance weighting (IVW) as the primary method with several sensitivity analyses like MR-Egger and MR-PRESSO for quality control. The above analyses were re-run using another large dataset of IBS, as well as changing the p-value threshold when screening IVs, to verify the stability of the results. Results: The final estimate indicated significant causal association [per one copy of effect allele predicted log odds ratio (OR) change in GFD intake: OR = 0.97, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.96 to 0.99, p < 0.01] without heterogeneity statistically (Q = 2.48, p = 0.78) nor horizontal pleiotropy biasing the causality (p = 0.92). Consistent results were found in validation analyses. Results of MR Steiger directionality test indicated the accuracy of our estimate of the causal direction (Steiger p < 0.001). Conclusion: GFD might be a protective factor of IBS. Therefore, we suggest taking a diet of lower gluten intake into account in IBS prevention and clinical practice.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yuhao Sun
- Centre for Global Health, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Xuejie Chen
- Department of Gastroenterology, The Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Shuyang Wang
- Centre for Global Health, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Minzi Deng
- Department of Gastroenterology, The Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Ying Xie
- Centre for Global Health, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Xiaoyan Wang
- Department of Gastroenterology, The Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Jie Chen
- Centre for Global Health, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
- Department of Gastroenterology, The Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Therese Hesketh
- Centre for Global Health, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
- Institute for Global Health, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| |
Collapse
|
36
|
Hospitalization outcomes among brain metastasis patients receiving radiation therapy with or without stereotactic radiosurgery from the 2005-2014 Nationwide Inpatient Sample. Sci Rep 2021; 11:19209. [PMID: 34584139 PMCID: PMC8478906 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-98563-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2021] [Accepted: 09/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to compare hospitalization outcomes among US inpatients with brain metastases who received stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) and/or non-SRS radiation therapies without neurosurgical intervention. A cross-sectional study was conducted whereby existing data on 35,199 hospitalization records (non-SRS alone: 32,981; SRS alone: 1035; SRS + non-SRS: 1183) from 2005 to 2014 Nationwide Inpatient Sample were analyzed. Targeted maximum likelihood estimation and Super Learner algorithms were applied to estimate average treatment effects (ATE), marginal odds ratios (MOR) and causal risk ratio (CRR) for three distinct types of radiation therapy in relation to hospitalization outcomes, including length of stay (' ≥ 7 days' vs. ' < 7 days') and discharge destination ('non-routine' vs. 'routine'), controlling for patient and hospital characteristics. Recipients of SRS alone (ATE = - 0.071, CRR = 0.88, MOR = 0.75) or SRS + non-SRS (ATE = - 0.17, CRR = 0.70, MOR = 0.50) had shorter hospitalizations as compared to recipients of non-SRS alone. Recipients of SRS alone (ATE = - 0.13, CRR = 0.78, MOR = 0.59) or SRS + non-SRS (ATE = - 0.17, CRR = 0.72, MOR = 0.51) had reduced risks of non-routine discharge as compared to recipients of non-SRS alone. Similar analyses suggested recipients of SRS alone had shorter hospitalizations and similar risk of non-routine discharge when compared to recipients of SRS + non-SRS radiation therapies. SRS alone or in combination with non-SRS therapies may reduce the risks of prolonged hospitalization and non-routine discharge among hospitalized US patients with brain metastases who underwent radiation therapy without neurosurgical intervention.
Collapse
|
37
|
Talbot D, Diop A, Lavigne-Robichaud M, Brisson C. The change in estimate method for selecting confounders: A simulation study. Stat Methods Med Res 2021; 30:2032-2044. [PMID: 34369220 PMCID: PMC8424612 DOI: 10.1177/09622802211034219] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/04/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The change in estimate is a popular approach for selecting confounders in epidemiology. It is recommended in epidemiologic textbooks and articles over significance test of coefficients, but concerns have been raised concerning its validity. Few simulation studies have been conducted to investigate its performance. METHODS An extensive simulation study was realized to compare different implementations of the change in estimate method. The implementations were also compared when estimating the association of body mass index with diastolic blood pressure in the PROspective Québec Study on Work and Health. RESULTS All methods were susceptible to introduce important bias and to produce confidence intervals that included the true effect much less often than expected in at least some scenarios. Overall mixed results were obtained regarding the accuracy of estimators, as measured by the mean squared error. No implementation adequately differentiated confounders from non-confounders. In the real data analysis, none of the implementation decreased the estimated standard error. CONCLUSION Based on these results, it is questionable whether change in estimate methods are beneficial in general, considering their low ability to improve the precision of estimates without introducing bias and inability to yield valid confidence intervals or to identify true confounders.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Denis Talbot
- Département de médecine sociale et préventive, Université Laval, Québec, Canada
- Unité santé des populations et pratiques optimales en santé, CHU de Québec – Université Laval research center, Québec, Canada
| | - Awa Diop
- Département de médecine sociale et préventive, Université Laval, Québec, Canada
- Unité santé des populations et pratiques optimales en santé, CHU de Québec – Université Laval research center, Québec, Canada
- Département de mathématiques et de statistique, Université Laval, Université Laval, Québec, Canada
| | - Mathilde Lavigne-Robichaud
- Département de médecine sociale et préventive, Université Laval, Québec, Canada
- Unité santé des populations et pratiques optimales en santé, CHU de Québec – Université Laval research center, Québec, Canada
| | - Chantal Brisson
- Département de médecine sociale et préventive, Université Laval, Québec, Canada
- Unité santé des populations et pratiques optimales en santé, CHU de Québec – Université Laval research center, Québec, Canada
- Centre de recherche sur les soins et les services de première ligne de l’Université Laval, Québec, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
38
|
Kerschberger B, Boulle A, Kuwengwa R, Ciglenecki I, Schomaker M. The Impact of Same-Day Antiretroviral Therapy Initiation Under the World Health Organization Treat-All Policy. Am J Epidemiol 2021; 190:1519-1532. [PMID: 33576383 PMCID: PMC8327202 DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwab032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2020] [Revised: 01/27/2021] [Accepted: 02/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Rapid initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) is recommended for people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), with the option to start treatment on the day of diagnosis (same-day ART). However, the effect of same-day ART remains unknown in realistic public sector settings. We established a cohort of ≥16-year-old patients who initiated first-line ART under a treat-all policy in Nhlangano (Eswatini) during 2014-2016, either on the day of HIV care enrollment (same-day ART) or 1-14 days thereafter (early ART). Directed acyclic graphs, flexible parametric survival analysis, and targeted maximum likelihood estimation (TMLE) were used to estimate the effect of same-day-ART initiation on a composite unfavorable treatment outcome (loss to follow-up, death, viral failure, treatment switch). Of 1,328 patients, 839 (63.2%) initiated same-day ART. The adjusted hazard ratio of the unfavorable outcome was higher, 1.48 (95% confidence interval: 1.16, 1.89), for same-day ART compared with early ART. TMLE suggested that after 1 year, 28.9% of patients would experience the unfavorable outcome under same-day ART compared with 21.2% under early ART (difference: 7.7%; 1.3%-14.1%). This estimate was driven by loss to follow-up and varied over time, with a higher hazard during the first year after HIV care enrollment and a similar hazard thereafter. We found an increased risk with same-day ART. A limitation was that possible silent transfers that were not captured.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Bernhard Kerschberger
- Correspondence to Dr. Bernhard Kerschberger, Médecins Sans Frontières, Mantsholo Road 325, Mbabane, Eswatini (e-mail: )
| | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
39
|
Vowels LM, Vowels MJ, Mark KP. Uncovering the Most Important Factors for Predicting Sexual Desire Using Explainable Machine Learning. J Sex Med 2021; 18:1198-1216. [PMID: 37057427 DOI: 10.1016/j.jsxm.2021.04.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2020] [Revised: 04/02/2021] [Accepted: 04/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Low sexual desire is the most common sexual problem reported with 34% of women and 15% of men reporting lack of desire for at least 3 months in a 12-month period. Sexual desire has previously been associated with both relationship and individual well-being highlighting the importance of understanding factors that contribute to sexual desire as improving sexual desire difficulties can help improve an individual's overall quality of life. AIM The purpose of the present study was to identify the most salient individual (eg, attachment style, attitudes toward sexuality, gender) and relational (eg, relationship satisfaction, sexual satisfaction, romantic love) predictors of dyadic and solitary sexual desire from a large number of predictor variables. METHODS Previous research has relied primarily on traditional statistical models which are limited in their ability to estimate a large number of predictors, non-linear associations, and complex interactions. We used a machine learning algorithm, random forest (a type of highly non-linear decision tree), to circumvent these issues to predict dyadic and solitary sexual desire from a large number of predictors across 2 online samples (N = 1,846; includes 754 individuals forming 377 couples). We also used a Shapley value technique to estimate the size and direction of the effect of each predictor variable on the model outcome. OUTCOMES The outcomes included total, dyadic, and solitary sexual desire measured using the Sexual Desire Inventory. RESULTS The models predicted around 40% of variance in dyadic and solitary desire with women's desire being more predictable than men's overall. Several variables consistently predicted dyadic sexual desire such as sexual satisfaction and romantic love, and solitary desire such as masturbation and attitudes toward sexuality. These predictors were similar for both men and women and gender was not an important predictor of sexual desire. CLINICAL TRANSLATION The results highlight the importance of addressing overall relationship satisfaction when sexual desire difficulties are presented in couples therapy. It is also important to understand clients' attitudes toward sexuality. STRENGTHS & LIMITATIONS The study improves on existing methodologies in the field and compares a large number of predictors of sexual desire. However, the data were cross-sectional and there may have been variables that are important for desire but were not present in the datasets. CONCLUSION Higher sexual satisfaction and feelings of romantic love toward one's partner are important predictors of dyadic sexual desire whereas regular masturbation and more permissive attitudes toward sexuality predicted solitary sexual desire. Vowels LM, Vowels MJ, Mark KP. Uncovering the Most Important Factors for Predicting Sexual Desire Using Explainable Machine Learning. J Sex Med 2021;18:1198-1216.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Laura M Vowels
- Department of Psychology, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK; Blueheart Technologies Ltd, London, UK.
| | - Matthew J Vowels
- Centre for Computer Vision, Speech and Signal Processing (CVSSP), University of Surrey, Guildford, UK
| | - Kristen P Mark
- Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| |
Collapse
|
40
|
Sun X, Wang L, Li H, Jin C, Yu Y, Hou L, Liu X, Yu Y, Yan R, Xue F. Identification of microenvironment related potential biomarkers of biochemical recurrence at 3 years after prostatectomy in prostate adenocarcinoma. Aging (Albany NY) 2021; 13:16024-16042. [PMID: 34133324 PMCID: PMC8266350 DOI: 10.18632/aging.203121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2020] [Accepted: 05/11/2021] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Prostate adenocarcinoma is one of the leading adult malignancies. Identification of multiple causative biomarkers is necessary and helpful for determining the occurrence and prognosis of prostate adenocarcinoma. We aimed to identify the potential prognostic genes in the prostate adenocarcinoma microenvironment and to estimate the causal effects simultaneously. We obtained the gene expression data of prostate adenocarcinoma from TCGA project and identified the differentially expressed genes based on immune-stromal components. Among these genes, 68 were associated with biochemical recurrence at 3 years after prostatectomy in prostate adenocarcinoma. After adjusting for the minimal sets of confounding covariates, 14 genes (TNFRSF4, ZAP70, ERMN, CXCL5, SPINK6, SLC6A18, CHRM2, TG, CLLU1OS, POSTN, CTSG, NETO1, CEACAM7, and IGLV3-22) related to the microenvironment were identified as prognostic biomarkers using the targeted maximum likelihood estimation. Both the average and individual causal effects were obtained to measure the magnitude of the effect. CIBERSORT and gene set enrichment analyses showed that these prognostic genes were mainly associated with immune responses. POSTN and NETO1 were correlated with androgen receptor expression, a main driver of prostate adenocarcinoma progression. Finally, five genes were validated in another prostate adenocarcinoma cohort (GEO: GSE70770). These findings might lead to the improved prognosis of prostate adenocarcinoma.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoru Sun
- Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, Shandong, China.,Institute for Medical Dataology, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, Shandong, China
| | - Lu Wang
- Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, Shandong, China.,Institute for Medical Dataology, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, Shandong, China
| | - Hongkai Li
- Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, Shandong, China.,Institute for Medical Dataology, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, Shandong, China
| | - Chuandi Jin
- Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, Shandong, China.,Institute for Medical Dataology, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, Shandong, China
| | - Yuanyuan Yu
- Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, Shandong, China.,Institute for Medical Dataology, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, Shandong, China
| | - Lei Hou
- Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, Shandong, China.,Institute for Medical Dataology, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, Shandong, China
| | - Xinhui Liu
- Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, Shandong, China.,Institute for Medical Dataology, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, Shandong, China
| | - Yifan Yu
- Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, Shandong, China.,Institute for Medical Dataology, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, Shandong, China
| | - Ran Yan
- Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, Shandong, China.,Institute for Medical Dataology, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, Shandong, China
| | - Fuzhong Xue
- Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, Shandong, China.,Institute for Medical Dataology, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, Shandong, China
| |
Collapse
|
41
|
Wang L, Sun X, Jin C, Fan Y, Xue F. Identification of Tumor Microenvironment-Related Prognostic Biomarkers for Ovarian Serous Cancer 3-Year Mortality Using Targeted Maximum Likelihood Estimation: A TCGA Data Mining Study. Front Genet 2021; 12:625145. [PMID: 34149794 PMCID: PMC8211425 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2021.625145] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2020] [Accepted: 05/11/2021] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Ovarian serous cancer (OSC) is one of the leading causes of death across the world. The role of the tumor microenvironment (TME) in OSC has received increasing attention. Targeted maximum likelihood estimation (TMLE) is developed under a counterfactual framework to produce effect estimation for both the population level and individual level. In this study, we aim to identify TME-related genes and using the TMLE method to estimate their effects on the 3-year mortality of OSC. In total, 285 OSC patients from the TCGA database constituted the studying population. ESTIMATE algorithm was implemented to evaluate immune and stromal components in TME. Differential analysis between high-score and low-score groups regarding ImmuneScore and StromalScore was performed to select shared differential expressed genes (DEGs). Univariate logistic regression analysis was followed to evaluate associations between DEGs and clinical pathologic factors with 3-year mortality. TMLE analysis was conducted to estimate the average effect (AE), individual effect (IE), and marginal odds ratio (MOR). The validation was performed using three datasets from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Additionally, 355 DEGs were selected after differential analysis, and 12 genes from DEGs were significant after univariate logistic regression. Four genes remained significant after TMLE analysis. In specific, ARID3C and FREM2 were negatively correlated with OSC 3-year mortality. CROCC2 and PTF1A were positively correlated with OSC 3-year mortality. Combining of ESTIMATE algorithm and TMLE algorithm, we identified four TME-related genes in OSC. AEs were estimated to provide averaged effects based on the population level, while IEs were estimated to provide individualized effects and may be helpful for precision medicine.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lu Wang
- Institute for Medical Dataology, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, China
- Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, China
| | - Xiaoru Sun
- Institute for Medical Dataology, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, China
- Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, China
| | - Chuandi Jin
- Institute for Medical Dataology, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, China
- Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, China
| | - Yue Fan
- Key Laboratory of Trace Elements and Endemic Diseases, National Health and Family Planning Commission, School of Public Health, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China
| | - Fuzhong Xue
- Institute for Medical Dataology, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, China
- Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, China
| |
Collapse
|
42
|
Blakely T, Lynch J, Simons K, Bentley R, Rose S. Reflection on modern methods: when worlds collide-prediction, machine learning and causal inference. Int J Epidemiol 2021; 49:2058-2064. [PMID: 31298274 DOI: 10.1093/ije/dyz132] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/11/2019] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Causal inference requires theory and prior knowledge to structure analyses, and is not usually thought of as an arena for the application of prediction modelling. However, contemporary causal inference methods, premised on counterfactual or potential outcomes approaches, often include processing steps before the final estimation step. The purposes of this paper are: (i) to overview the recent emergence of prediction underpinning steps in contemporary causal inference methods as a useful perspective on contemporary causal inference methods, and (ii) explore the role of machine learning (as one approach to 'best prediction') in causal inference. Causal inference methods covered include propensity scores, inverse probability of treatment weights (IPTWs), G computation and targeted maximum likelihood estimation (TMLE). Machine learning has been used more for propensity scores and TMLE, and there is potential for increased use in G computation and estimation of IPTWs.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tony Blakely
- Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - John Lynch
- School of Public Health, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | - Koen Simons
- Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Rebecca Bentley
- Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Sherri Rose
- Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| |
Collapse
|
43
|
Malec SA, Wei P, Bernstam EV, Boyce RD, Cohen T. Using computable knowledge mined from the literature to elucidate confounders for EHR-based pharmacovigilance. J Biomed Inform 2021; 117:103719. [PMID: 33716168 PMCID: PMC8559730 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbi.2021.103719] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2020] [Revised: 12/31/2020] [Accepted: 01/04/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Drug safety research asks causal questions but relies on observational data. Confounding bias threatens the reliability of studies using such data. The successful control of confounding requires knowledge of variables called confounders affecting both the exposure and outcome of interest. However, causal knowledge of dynamic biological systems is complex and challenging. Fortunately, computable knowledge mined from the literature may hold clues about confounders. In this paper, we tested the hypothesis that incorporating literature-derived confounders can improve causal inference from observational data. METHODS We introduce two methods (semantic vector-based and string-based confounder search) that query literature-derived information for confounder candidates to control, using SemMedDB, a database of computable knowledge mined from the biomedical literature. These methods search SemMedDB for confounders by applying semantic constraint search for indications treated by the drug (exposure) and that are also known to cause the adverse event (outcome). We then include the literature-derived confounder candidates in statistical and causal models derived from free-text clinical notes. For evaluation, we use a reference dataset widely used in drug safety containing labeled pairwise relationships between drugs and adverse events and attempt to rediscover these relationships from a corpus of 2.2 M NLP-processed free-text clinical notes. We employ standard adjustment and causal inference procedures to predict and estimate causal effects by informing the models with varying numbers of literature-derived confounders and instantiating the exposure, outcome, and confounder variables in the models with dichotomous EHR-derived data. Finally, we compare the results from applying these procedures with naive measures of association (χ2 and reporting odds ratio) and with each other. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS We found semantic vector-based search to be superior to string-based search at reducing confounding bias. However, the effect of including more rather than fewer literature-derived confounders was inconclusive. We recommend using targeted learning estimation methods that can address treatment-confounder feedback, where confounders also behave as intermediate variables, and engaging subject-matter experts to adjudicate the handling of problematic covariates.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Scott A Malec
- University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Department of Biomedical Informatics, Pittsburgh, PA, United States.
| | - Peng Wei
- The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Department of Biostatistics, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Elmer V Bernstam
- University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Biomedical Informatics, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Richard D Boyce
- University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Department of Biomedical Informatics, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
| | - Trevor Cohen
- University of Washington, Department of Biomedical Informatics and Medical Education, Seattle, WA, United States
| |
Collapse
|
44
|
Dadi AF, Miller ER, Woodman RJ, Azale T, Mwanri L. Effect of perinatal depression on risk of adverse infant health outcomes in mother-infant dyads in Gondar town: a causal analysis. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 2021; 21:255. [PMID: 33771103 PMCID: PMC7995776 DOI: 10.1186/s12884-021-03733-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2020] [Accepted: 03/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Approximately one-third of pregnant and postnatal women in Ethiopia experience depression posing a substantial health burden for these women and their families. Although associations between postnatal depression and worse infant health have been observed, there have been no studies to date assessing the causal effects of perinatal depression on infant health in Ethiopia. We applied longitudinal data and recently developed causal inference methods that reduce the risk of bias to estimate associations between perinatal depression and infant diarrhea, Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI), and malnutrition in Gondar Town, Ethiopia. METHODS A cohort of 866 mother-infant dyads were followed from infant birth for 6 months and the cumulative incidence of ARI, diarrhea, and malnutrition were assessed. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) was used to assess the presence of maternal depression, the Integrated Management of Newborn and Childhood Illnesses (IMNCI) guidelines were used to identify infant ARI and diarrhea, and the mid upper arm circumference (MUAC) was used to identify infant malnutrition. The risk difference (RD) due to maternal depression for each outcome was estimated using targeted maximum likelihood estimation (TMLE), a doubly robust causal inference method used to reduce bias in observational studies. RESULTS The cumulative incidence of diarrhea, ARI and malnutrition during 6-month follow-up was 17.0% (95%CI: 14.5, 19.6), 21.6% (95%CI: 18.89, 24.49), and 14.4% (95%CI: 12.2, 16.9), respectively. There was no association between antenatal depression and ARI (RD = - 1.3%; 95%CI: - 21.0, 18.5), diarrhea (RD = 0.8%; 95%CI: - 9.2, 10.9), or malnutrition (RD = -7.3%; 95%CI: - 22.0, 21.8). Similarly, postnatal depression was not associated with diarrhea (RD = -2.4%; 95%CI: - 9.6, 4.9), ARI (RD = - 3.2%; 95%CI: - 12.4, 5.9), or malnutrition (RD = 0.9%; 95%CI: - 7.6, 9.5). CONCLUSION There was no evidence for an association between perinatal depression and the risk of infant diarrhea, ARI, and malnutrition amongst women in Gondar Town. Previous reports suggesting increased risks resulting from maternal depression may be due to unobserved confounding.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Abel Fekadu Dadi
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Institute of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia.
- Flinders University, College of Medicine and Public health, Health Sciences Building, Sturt Road, Bedford Park, Adelaide, SA, 5054, Australia.
| | - Emma R Miller
- Flinders University, College of Medicine and Public health, Health Sciences Building, Sturt Road, Bedford Park, Adelaide, SA, 5054, Australia
| | - Richard J Woodman
- Flinders University, College of Medicine and Public health, Health Sciences Building, Sturt Road, Bedford Park, Adelaide, SA, 5054, Australia
| | - Telake Azale
- Department of Health promotion and Behavioral sciences, Institute of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia
| | - Lillian Mwanri
- Flinders University, College of Medicine and Public health, Health Sciences Building, Sturt Road, Bedford Park, Adelaide, SA, 5054, Australia
| |
Collapse
|
45
|
Abstract
BACKGROUND Population-level estimates of disease prevalence and control are needed to assess prevention and treatment strategies. However, available data often suffer from differential missingness. For example, population-level HIV viral suppression is the proportion of all HIV-positive persons with suppressed viral replication. Individuals with measured HIV status, and among HIV-positive individuals those with measured viral suppression, likely differ from those without such measurements. METHODS We discuss three sets of assumptions to identify population-level suppression in the intervention arm of the SEARCH Study (NCT01864603), a community randomized trial in rural Kenya and Uganda (2013-2017). Using data on nearly 100,000 participants, we compare estimates from (1) an unadjusted approach assuming data are missing-completely-at-random (MCAR); (2) stratification on age group, sex, and community; and (3) targeted maximum likelihood estimation to adjust for a larger set of baseline and time-updated variables. RESULTS Despite high measurement coverage, estimates of population-level viral suppression varied by identification assumption. Unadjusted estimates were most optimistic: 50% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 46%, 54%) of HIV-positive persons suppressed at baseline, 80% (95% CI = 78%, 82%) at year 1, 85% (95% CI = 83%, 86%) at year 2, and 85% (95% CI = 83%, 87%) at year 3. Stratifying on baseline predictors yielded slightly lower estimates, and full adjustment reduced estimates meaningfully: 42% (95% CI = 37%, 46%) of HIV-positive persons suppressed at baseline, 71% (95% CI = 69%, 73%) at year 1, 76% (95% CI = 74%, 78%) at year 2, and 79% (95% CI = 77%, 81%) at year 3. CONCLUSIONS Estimation of population-level disease burden and control requires appropriate adjustment for missing data. Even in large studies with limited missingness, estimates relying on the MCAR assumption or baseline stratification should be interpreted cautiously.
Collapse
|
46
|
Zou R, El Marroun H, Cecil C, Jaddoe VWV, Hillegers M, Tiemeier H, White T. Maternal folate levels during pregnancy and offspring brain development in late childhood. Clin Nutr 2020; 40:3391-3400. [PMID: 33279309 DOI: 10.1016/j.clnu.2020.11.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2020] [Revised: 11/13/2020] [Accepted: 11/15/2020] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Cumulative evidence shows that low maternal folate levels during pregnancy are associated with offspring neuropsychiatric disorders even in the absence of neural tube defects. However, the relationship between prenatal exposure to folate and brain development in late childhood has been rarely investigated. METHODS In 2095 children from a prospective population-based cohort in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, we examined the association of maternal folate levels during pregnancy with downstream brain development in offspring. Maternal folate concentrations were measured from venous blood in early gestation. Child structural neuroimaging data were measured at age 9-11 years. In addition, measures of child head circumference using fetal ultrasound in the third trimester and total brain volume using magnetic resonance imaging at age 6-8 years were used for analyses with repeated assessments of brain development. RESULTS Maternal folate deficiency (i.e., <7 nmol/L) during pregnancy was associated with smaller total brain volume (B = -18.7 cm3, 95% CI -37.2 to -0.2) and smaller cerebral white matter (B = -7.2 cm3, 95% CI -11.8 to -2.6) in children aged 9-11 years. No differences in cortical thickness or surface area were observed. Analysis of the repeated brain assessments showed that children exposed to deficient folate concentrations in utero had persistently smaller brains compared to controls from the third trimester to childhood (β = -0.4, 95% CI -0.6 to -0.1). CONCLUSIONS Low maternal folate levels during pregnancy are associated with altered offspring brain development in childhood, suggesting the importance of essential folate concentrations in early pregnancy.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Runyu Zou
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands; The Generation R Study Group, Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Hanan El Marroun
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Pediatrics, Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Psychology, Education and Child Studies, Erasmus School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Charlotte Cecil
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Molecular Epidemiology, Department of Biomedical Data Sciences, Leiden University Medical Center, 2333 ZC, Leiden, the Netherlands
| | - Vincent W V Jaddoe
- The Generation R Study Group, Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Pediatrics, Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Manon Hillegers
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Henning Tiemeier
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Tonya White
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
| |
Collapse
|
47
|
Guertin JR, Conombo B, Langevin R, Bergeron F, Holbrook A, Humphries B, Matteau A, Potter BJ, Renoux C, Tarride JÉ, Durand M. A Systematic Review of Methods Used for Confounding Adjustment in Observational Economic Evaluations in Cardiology Conducted between 2013 and 2017. Med Decis Making 2020; 40:582-595. [PMID: 32627666 DOI: 10.1177/0272989x20937257] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Background. Observational economic evaluations (i.e., economic evaluations in which treatment allocation is not randomized) are prone to confounding bias. Prior reviews published in 2013 have shown that adjusting for confounding is poorly done, if done at all. Although these reviews raised awareness on the issues, it is unclear if their results improved the methodological quality of future work. We therefore aimed to investigate whether and how confounding was accounted for in recently published observational economic evaluations in the field of cardiology. Methods. We performed a systematic review of PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and PsycInfo databases using a set of Medical Subject Headings and keywords covering topics in "observational economic evaluations in health within humans" and "cardiovascular diseases." Any study published in either English or French between January 1, 2013, and December 31, 2017, addressing our search criteria was eligible for inclusion in our review. Our protocol was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42018112391). Results. Forty-two (0.6%) out of 7523 unique citations met our inclusion criteria. Fewer than half of the selected studies adjusted for confounding (n = 19 [45.2%]). Of those that adjusted for confounding, propensity score matching (n = 8 [42.1%]) and other matching-based approaches were favored (n = 8 [42.1%]). Our results also highlighted that most authors who adjusted for confounding rarely justified their methodological choices. Conclusion. Our results indicate that adjustment for confounding is often ignored when conducting an observational economic evaluation. Continued knowledge translation efforts aimed at improving researchers' knowledge regarding confounding bias and methods aimed at addressing this issue are required and should be supported by journal editors.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jason R Guertin
- Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Université Laval, Quebec City, Canada.,Axe Santé des populations et pratiques optimales en santé, Centre de recherche du CHU de Québec-Université Laval, Quebec City, Canada
| | - Blanchard Conombo
- Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Université Laval, Quebec City, Canada.,Axe Santé des populations et pratiques optimales en santé, Centre de recherche du CHU de Québec-Université Laval, Quebec City, Canada
| | | | | | - Anne Holbrook
- Division of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, Department of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada.,Department of Health Evidence and Impact, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
| | - Brittany Humphries
- Department of Health Evidence and Impact, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
| | - Alexis Matteau
- Department of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Canada.,Centre de recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal, Montreal, Canada.,Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal, Montreal, Canada
| | - Brian J Potter
- Department of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Canada.,Centre de recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal, Montreal, Canada.,Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal, Montreal, Canada
| | - Christel Renoux
- McGill University, Montreal, Canada.,Programs for Assessment of Technology in Health (PATH), The Research Institute of St. Joe's Hamilton, St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton.,McMaster Chair in Health Technology Management, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
| | - Jean-Éric Tarride
- Department of Health Evidence and Impact, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada.,Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada.,Department of Economics; McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada.,Programs for Assessment of Technology in Health (PATH), The Research Institute of St. Joe's Hamilton, St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton.,McMaster Chair in Health Technology Management, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
| | - Madeleine Durand
- Department of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Canada.,Centre de recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal, Montreal, Canada.,Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal, Montreal, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
48
|
Chatton A, Le Borgne F, Leyrat C, Gillaizeau F, Rousseau C, Barbin L, Laplaud D, Léger M, Giraudeau B, Foucher Y. G-computation, propensity score-based methods, and targeted maximum likelihood estimator for causal inference with different covariates sets: a comparative simulation study. Sci Rep 2020; 10:9219. [PMID: 32514028 PMCID: PMC7280276 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-65917-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2019] [Accepted: 04/26/2020] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Controlling for confounding bias is crucial in causal inference. Distinct methods are currently employed to mitigate the effects of confounding bias. Each requires the introduction of a set of covariates, which remains difficult to choose, especially regarding the different methods. We conduct a simulation study to compare the relative performance results obtained by using four different sets of covariates (those causing the outcome, those causing the treatment allocation, those causing both the outcome and the treatment allocation, and all the covariates) and four methods: g-computation, inverse probability of treatment weighting, full matching and targeted maximum likelihood estimator. Our simulations are in the context of a binary treatment, a binary outcome and baseline confounders. The simulations suggest that considering all the covariates causing the outcome led to the lowest bias and variance, particularly for g-computation. The consideration of all the covariates did not decrease the bias but significantly reduced the power. We apply these methods to two real-world examples that have clinical relevance, thereby illustrating the real-world importance of using these methods. We propose an R package RISCA to encourage the use of g-computation in causal inference.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Arthur Chatton
- INSERM UMR 1246 - SPHERE, Université de Nantes, Université de Tours, Nantes, France
- A2COM-IDBC, Pacé, France
| | - Florent Le Borgne
- INSERM UMR 1246 - SPHERE, Université de Nantes, Université de Tours, Nantes, France
- A2COM-IDBC, Pacé, France
| | - Clémence Leyrat
- INSERM UMR 1246 - SPHERE, Université de Nantes, Université de Tours, Nantes, France
- Department of Medical Statistics & Cancer Survival Group, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
| | - Florence Gillaizeau
- INSERM UMR 1246 - SPHERE, Université de Nantes, Université de Tours, Nantes, France
- Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nantes, Nantes, France
| | - Chloé Rousseau
- INSERM UMR 1246 - SPHERE, Université de Nantes, Université de Tours, Nantes, France
- Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nantes, Nantes, France
- INSERM CIC1414, CHU Rennes, Rennes, France
| | | | - David Laplaud
- Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nantes, Nantes, France
- Centre de Recherche en Transplantation et Immunologie INSERM UMR1064, Université de Nantes, Nantes, France
| | - Maxime Léger
- INSERM UMR 1246 - SPHERE, Université de Nantes, Université de Tours, Nantes, France
- Département d'Anesthésie-Réanimation, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire d'Angers, Angers, France
| | - Bruno Giraudeau
- INSERM UMR 1246 - SPHERE, Université de Nantes, Université de Tours, Nantes, France
- INSERM CIC1415, CHRU de Tours, Tours, France
| | - Yohann Foucher
- INSERM UMR 1246 - SPHERE, Université de Nantes, Université de Tours, Nantes, France.
- Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nantes, Nantes, France.
| |
Collapse
|
49
|
Krishnan S, Ramyaa R. When two heads are better than one: nutritional epidemiology meets machine learning. Am J Clin Nutr 2020; 111:1124-1126. [PMID: 32433722 DOI: 10.1093/ajcn/nqaa113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Sridevi Krishnan
- Department of Nutrition, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Ramyaa Ramyaa
- Computer Science and Engineering, New Mexico Tech, Socorro, NM, USA
| |
Collapse
|
50
|
Yu YH, Bodnar LM, Himes KP, Brooks MM, Naimi AI. Association of Overweight and Obesity Development Between Pregnancies With Stillbirth and Infant Mortality in a Cohort of Multiparous Women. Obstet Gynecol 2020; 135:634-643. [PMID: 32028483 PMCID: PMC7147965 DOI: 10.1097/aog.0000000000003677] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To identify the association of newly developed prepregnancy overweight and obesity with stillbirth and infant mortality. METHODS We studied subsequent pregnancies of mothers who were normal weight at fertilization of their first identified pregnancy, from a population-based cohort that linked birth registry with death records in Pennsylvania, 2003-2013. Women with newly developed prepregnancy overweight and obesity were defined as those whose body mass index (BMI) before second pregnancy was between 25 and 29.9 or 30 or higher, respectively. Our main outcomes of interest were stillbirth (intrauterine death at 20 weeks of gestation or greater), infant mortality (less than 365 days after birth), neonatal death (less than 28 days after birth) and postneonatal death (29-365 days after birth). Associations of both prepregnancy BMI categories and continuous BMI with each outcome were estimated by nonparametric targeted minimum loss-based estimation and inverse-probability weighted dose-response curves, respectively, adjusting for race-ethnicity, smoking, and other confounders (eg, age, education). RESULTS A cohort of 212,889 women were included for infant mortality analysis (192,941 women for stillbirth analysis). The crude rate of stillbirth and infant mortality in these final analytic cohorts were 3.3 per 1,000 pregnancies and 2.9 per 1,000 live births, respectively. Compared with women who stayed at a normal weight in their second pregnancies, those becoming overweight had 1.4 (95% CI 0.6-2.1) excess stillbirths per 1,000 pregnancies. Those becoming obese had 3.6 (95% CI 1.3-5.9) excess stillbirths per 1,000 pregnancies and 2.4 (95% CI 0.4-4.4) excess neonatal deaths per 1,000 live births. There was a dose-response relationship between prepregnancy BMI increases of more than 2 units and increased risk of stillbirth and infant mortality. In addition, BMI increases were associated with higher risks of infant mortality among women with shorter interpregnancy intervals (less than 18 months) compared with longer intervals. CONCLUSION Transitioning from normal weight to overweight or obese between pregnancies was associated with an increased risk of stillbirth and neonatal mortality.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ya-Hui Yu
- Department of Epidemiology, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh
| | - Lisa M. Bodnar
- Department of Epidemiology, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh
- Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh
- Magee-Womens Research Institute, Pittsburgh, PA
| | - Katherine P. Himes
- Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh
- Magee-Womens Research Institute, Pittsburgh, PA
| | - Maria M. Brooks
- Department of Epidemiology, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh
| | - Ashley I. Naimi
- Department of Epidemiology, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh
| |
Collapse
|