Abstract A common problem of interest within a randomized clinical trial is the evaluation of an inexpensive response endpoint as a valid surrogate endpoint for a clinical endpoint, where a chief purpose of a valid surrogate is to provide a way to make correct inferences on clinical treatment...

Abstract Research by the Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership (OMOP) has focused on developing and evaluating strategies to exploit observational electronic data to improve post-market prescription drug surveillance. A data simulator known as OSIM2 developed by the OMOP statistical methods...

Abstract This work investigates the intersection property of conditional independence. It states that for random variables $$A,B,C$$ and X we have that $$X \bot \bot A{\kern 1pt} {\kern 1pt} |{\kern 1pt} {\kern 1pt} B,C$$ and $$X\, \bot \bot\, B{\kern 1pt} {\kern 1pt} |{\kern 1pt} {\kern 1pt}...

Abstract Identifiability of parameters is an essential property for a statistical model to be useful in most settings. However, establishing parameter identifiability for Bayesian networks with hidden variables remains challenging. In the context of finite state spaces, we give algebraic...

Abstract In this article, we study the causal inference problem with a continuous treatment variable using propensity score-based methods. For a continuous treatment, the generalized propensity score is defined as the conditional density of the treatment-level given covariates (confounders). The...

Abstract Estimating causal exposure effects in observational studies ideally requires the analyst to have a vast knowledge of the domain of application. Investigators often bypass difficulties related to the identification and selection of confounders through the use of fully adjusted outcome...

Abstract Propensity score analysis (PSA) is a common method for estimating treatment effects, but researchers dealing with data from survey designs are generally not properly accounting for the sampling weights in their analyses. Moreover, recommendations given in the few existing methodological...

Abstract In this issue of the Causal, Casual, and Curious column, I compare several ways of extracting information from post-treatment variables and call attention to some peculiar relationships among them. In particular, I contrast do -calculus conditioning with counterfactual conditioning and...

Abstract Ding and Miratrix [ 1 ] recently concluded that adjustment on a pre-treatment covariate is almost always preferable to reduce bias. I extend the examined parameter space of the models considered by Ding and Miratrix, and consider slight extensions of their models as well. Similar to the...

Abstract This note examines one of the most crucial questions in causal inference: “How generalizable are randomized clinical trials?” The question has received a formal treatment recently, using a non-parametric setting, and has led to a simple and general solution. I will describe this...