arXiv subjects

Sarah E. Robertson

Publications and source records attributed to Sarah E. Robertson.

15 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

Cluster randomized trials designed to support generalizable inferences

Background: When planning a cluster randomized trial, evaluators often have access to an enumerated cohort representing the target population of clusters. Practicalities of conducting the trial, such as the need to oversample clusters with certain characteristics to improve trial economy or to support inference about subgroups of clusters, may preclude simple random sampling from the cohort into the trial, and thus interfere with the goal of producing generalizable inferences about the target population. Methods: We describe a nested trial design where the randomized clusters are embedded within a cohort of trial-eligible clusters from the target population and where clusters are selected for inclusion in the trial with known sampling probabilities that may depend on cluster characteristics (e.g., allowing clusters to be chosen to facilitate trial conduct or to examine hypotheses related to their characteristics). We develop and evaluate methods for analyzing data from this design to generalize causal inferences to the target population underlying the cohort. Results: We present identification and estimation results for the expectation of the average potential outcome and for the average treatment effect, in the entire target population of clusters and in its non-randomized subset. In simulation studies we show that all the estimators have low bias but markedly different precision. Conclusions: Cluster randomized trials where clusters are selected for inclusion with known sampling probabilities that depend on cluster characteristics, combined with efficient estimation methods, can precisely quantify treatment effects in the target population, while addressing objectives of trial conduct that require oversampling clusters on the basis of their characteristics.

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arXiv2023

Sensitivity analysis for studies transporting prediction models

We consider the estimation of measures of model performance in a target population when covariate and outcome data are available on a sample from some source population and covariate data, but not outcome data, are available on a simple random sample from the target population. When outcome data are not available from the target population, identification of measures of model performance is possible under an untestable assumption that the outcome and population (source or target population) are independent conditional on covariates. In practice, this assumption is uncertain and, in some cases, controversial. Therefore, sensitivity analysis may be useful for examining the impact of assumption violations on inferences about model performance. Here, we propose an exponential tilt sensitivity analysis model and develop statistical methods to determine how sensitive measures of model performance are to violations of the assumption of conditional independence between outcome and population. We provide identification results and estimators for the risk in the target population, examine the large-sample properties of the estimators, and apply the estimators to data on individuals with stable ischemic heart disease.

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arXiv2023

Generalizability analyses with a partially nested trial design: the Necrotizing Enterocolitis Surgery Trial

We discuss generalizability analyses under a partially nested trial design, where part of the trial is nested within a cohort of trial-eligible individuals, while the rest of the trial is not nested. This design arises, for example, when only some centers participating in a trial are able to collect data on non-randomized individuals, or when data on non-randomized individuals cannot be collected for the full duration of the trial. Our work is motivated by the Necrotizing Enterocolitis Surgery Trial (NEST) that compared initial laparotomy versus peritoneal drain for infants with necrotizing enterocolitis or spontaneous intestinal perforation. During the first phase of the study, data were collected from randomized individuals as well as consenting non-randomized individuals; during the second phase of the study, however, data were only collected from randomized individuals, resulting in a partially nested trial design. We propose methods for generalizability analyses with partially nested trial designs. We describe identification conditions and propose estimators for causal estimands in the target population of all trial-eligible individuals, both randomized and non-randomized, in the part of the data where the trial is nested, while using trial information spanning both parts. We evaluate the estimators in a simulation study.

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arXiv2022

Generalizing and transporting inferences about the effects of treatment assignment subject to non-adherence

We discuss the identifiability of causal estimands for generalizability and transportability analyses, both under perfect and imperfect adherence to treatment assignment. We consider a setting where the trial data contain information on baseline covariates, assignment at baseline, intervention at baseline (point treatment), and outcomes; and where the data from non-randomized individuals only contain information on baseline covariates. In this setting, we review identification results under perfect adherence and study two examples in which non-adherence severely limits the ability to transport inferences about the effects of treatment assignment to the target population. In the first example, trial participation has a direct effect on treatment receipt and, through treatment receipt, on the outcome (a "trial engagement effect" via adherence). In the second example, participation in the trial has unmeasured common causes with treatment receipt. In both examples, the effect of assignment on the outcome in the target population is not identifiable. In the first example, however, the effect of joint interventions to scale-up trial activities that affect adherence and assign treatment is identifiable. We conclude that generalizability and transportability analyses should consider trial engagement effects via adherence and selection for participation on the basis of unmeasured factors that influence adherence.

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arXiv2022

Global sensitivity analysis for studies extending inferences from a randomized trial to a target population

When individuals participating in a randomized trial differ with respect to the distribution of effect modifiers compared compared with the target population where the trial results will be used, treatment effect estimates from the trial may not directly apply to target population. Methods for extending -- generalizing or transporting -- causal inferences from the trial to the target population rely on conditional exchangeability assumptions between randomized and non-randomized individuals. The validity of these assumptions is often uncertain or controversial and investigators need to examine how violation of the assumptions would impact study conclusions. We describe methods for global sensitivity analysis that directly parameterize violations of the assumptions in terms of potential (counterfactual) outcome distributions. Our approach does not require detailed knowledge about the distribution of specific unmeasured effect modifiers or their relationship with the observed variables. We illustrate the methods using data from a trial nested within a cohort of trial-eligible individuals to compare coronary artery surgery plus medical therapy versus medical therapy alone for stable ischemic heart disease.

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arXiv2022

Extending inferences from a cluster randomized trial to a target population

We describe methods that extend (generalize or transport) causal inferences from cluster randomized trials to a target population of clusters, under a general nonparametric model that allows for arbitrary within-cluster dependence. We propose doubly robust estimators of potential outcome means in the target population that exploit individual-level data on covariates and outcomes to improve efficiency and are appropriate for use with machine learning methods. We illustrate the methods using a cluster randomized trial of influenza vaccination strategies conducted in 818 nursing homes nested in a cohort of 4,475 trial-eligible Medicare-certified nursing homes.

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arXiv2022

Learning about treatment effects in a new target population under transportability assumptions for relative effect measures

Epidemiologists and applied statisticians often believe that relative effect measures conditional on covariates, such as risk ratios and mean ratios, are ``transportable'' across populations. Here, we examine the identification of causal effects in a target population using an assumption that conditional relative effect measures (e.g., conditional risk ratios or mean ratios) are transportable from a trial to the target population. We show that transportability for relative effect measures is largely incompatible with transportability for difference effect measures, unless the treatment has no effect on average or one is willing to make even stronger transportability assumptions, which imply the transportability of both relative and difference effect measures. We then describe how marginal causal estimands in a target population can be identified under the assumption of transportability of relative effect measures, when we are interested in the effectiveness of a new experimental treatment in a target population where the only treatment in use is the control treatment evaluated in the trial. We extend these results to consider cases where the control treatment evaluated in the trial is only one of the treatments in use in the target population, under an additional partial exchangeability assumption in the target population (i.e., a partial assumption of no unmeasured confounding in the target population). We also develop identification results that allow for the covariates needed for transportability of relative effect measures to be only a small subset of the covariates needed to control confounding in the target population. Last, we propose estimators that can be easily implemented in standard statistical software.

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arXiv2022

Efficient and robust methods for causally interpretable meta-analysis: transporting inferences from multiple randomized trials to a target population

We present methods for causally interpretable meta-analyses that combine information from multiple randomized trials to estimate potential (counterfactual) outcome means and average treatment effects in a target population. We consider identifiability conditions, derive implications of the conditions for the law of the observed data, and obtain identification results for transporting causal inferences from a collection of independent randomized trials to a new target population in which experimental data may not be available. We propose an estimator for the potential (counterfactual) outcome mean in the target population under each treatment studied in the trials. The estimator uses covariate, treatment, and outcome data from the collection of trials, but only covariate data from the target population sample. We show that it is doubly robust, in the sense that it is consistent and asymptotically normal when at least one of the models it relies on is correctly specified. We study the finite sample properties of the estimator in simulation studies and demonstrate its implementation using data from a multi-center randomized trial.

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arXiv2021

Estimating subgroup effects in generalizability and transportability analyses

Methods for extending -- generalizing or transporting -- inferences from a randomized trial to a target population involve conditioning on a large set of covariates that is sufficient for rendering the randomized and non-randomized groups exchangeable. Yet, decision-makers are often interested in examining treatment effects in subgroups of the target population defined in terms of only a few discrete covariates. Here, we propose methods for estimating subgroup-specific potential outcome means and average treatment effects in generalizability and transportability analyses, using outcome model-based (g-formula), weighting, and augmented weighting estimators. We consider estimating subgroup-specific average treatment effects in the target population and its non-randomized subset, and provide methods that are appropriate both for nested and non-nested trial designs. As an illustration, we apply the methods to data from the Coronary Artery Surgery Study to compare the effect of surgery plus medical therapy versus medical therapy alone for chronic coronary artery disease in subgroups defined by history of myocardial infarction.

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arXiv2021

Center-specific causal inference with multicenter trials: reinterpreting trial evidence in the context of each participating center

In multicenter randomized trials, when effect modifiers have a different distribution across centers, comparisons between treatment groups that average over centers may not apply to any of the populations underlying the individual centers. Here, we describe methods for reinterpreting the evidence produced by a multicenter trial in the context of the population underlying each center. We describe how to identify center-specific effects under identifiability conditions that are largely supported by the study design and when associations between center membership and the outcome may be present, given baseline covariates and treatment ("center-outcome associations"). We then consider an additional condition of no center-outcome associations given baseline covariates and treatment. We show that this condition can be assessed using the trial data; when it holds, center-specific treatment effects can be estimated using analyses that completely pool information across centers. We propose methods for estimating center-specific average treatment effects, when center-outcome associations may be present and when they are absent, and describe approaches for assessing whether center-specific treatment effects are homogeneous. We evaluate the performance of the methods in a simulation study and illustrate their implementation using data from the Hepatitis C Antiviral Long-Term Treatment Against Cirrhosis trial.

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arXiv2020

Towards causally interpretable meta-analysis: transporting inferences from multiple studies to a target population

We take steps towards causally interpretable meta-analysis by describing methods for transporting causal inferences from a collection of randomized trials to a new target population, one-trial-at-a-time and pooling all trials. We discuss identifiability conditions for average treatment effects in the target population and provide identification results. We show that assuming inferences are transportable from all trials in the collection to the same target population has implications for the law underlying the observed data. We propose average treatment effect estimators that rely on different working models and provide code for their implementation in statistical software. We discuss how to use the data to examine whether transported inferences are homogeneous across the collection of trials, sketch approaches for sensitivity analysis to violations of the identifiability conditions, and describe extensions to address non-adherence in the trials. Last, we illustrate the proposed methods using data from the HALT-C multi-center trial.

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arXiv2019

Extending inferences from a randomized trial to a new target population

When treatment effect modifiers influence the decision to participate in a randomized trial, the average treatment effect in the population represented by the randomized individuals will differ from the effect in other populations. In this tutorial, we consider methods for extending causal inferences about time-fixed treatments from a trial to a new target population of non-participants, using data from a completed randomized trial and baseline covariate data from a sample from the target population. We examine methods based on modeling the expectation of the outcome, the probability of participation, or both (doubly robust). We compare the methods in a simulation study and show how they can be implemented in software. We apply the methods to a randomized trial nested within a cohort of trial-eligible patients to compare coronary artery surgery plus medical therapy versus medical therapy alone for patients with chronic coronary artery disease. We conclude by discussing issues that arise when using the methods in applied analyses.

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arXiv2019

Sensitivity analysis using bias functions for studies extending inferences from a randomized trial to a target population

Extending (generalizing or transporting) causal inferences from a randomized trial to a target population requires ``generalizability'' or ``transportability'' assumptions, which state that randomized and non-randomized individuals are exchangeable conditional on baseline covariates. These assumptions are made on the basis of background knowledge, which is often uncertain or controversial, and need to be subjected to sensitivity analysis. We present simple methods for sensitivity analyses that do not require detailed background knowledge about specific unknown or unmeasured determinants of the outcome or modifiers of the treatment effect. Instead, our methods directly parameterize violations of the assumptions using bias functions. We show how the methods can be applied to non-nested trial designs, where the trial data are combined with a separately obtained sample of non-randomized individuals, as well as to nested trial designs, where a clinical trial is embedded within a cohort sampled from the target population. We illustrate the methods using data from a clinical trial comparing treatments for chronic hepatitis C infection.

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arXiv2019

Study designs for extending causal inferences from a randomized trial to a target population

We examine study designs for extending (generalizing or transporting) causal inferences from a randomized trial to a target population. Specifically, we consider nested trial designs, where randomized individuals are nested within a sample from the target population, and non-nested trial designs, including composite dataset designs, where a randomized trial is combined with a separately obtained sample of non-randomized individuals from the target population. We show that the causal quantities that can be identified in each study design depend on what is known about the probability of sampling non-randomized individuals. For each study design, we examine identification of potential outcome means via the g-formula and inverse probability weighting. Last, we explore the implications of the sampling properties underlying the designs for the identification and estimation of the probability of trial participation.

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arXiv2019

Generalizing trial findings using nested trial designs with sub-sampling of non-randomized individuals

To generalize inferences from a randomized trial to the target population of all trial-eligible individuals, investigators can use nested trial designs, where the randomized individuals are nested within a cohort of trial-eligible individuals, including those who are not offered or refuse randomization. In these designs, data on baseline covariates are collected from the entire cohort, and treatment and outcome data need only be collected from randomized individuals. In this paper, we describe nested trial designs that improve research economy by collecting additional baseline covariate data after sub-sampling non-randomized individuals (i.e., a two-stage design), using sampling probabilities that may depend on the initial set of baseline covariates available from all individuals in the cohort. We propose an estimator for the potential outcome mean in the target population of all trial-eligible individuals and show that our estimator is doubly robust, in the sense that it is consistent when either the model for the conditional outcome mean among randomized individuals or the model for the probability of trial participation is correctly specified. We assess the impact of sub-sampling on the asymptotic variance of our estimator and examine the estimator's finite-sample performance in a simulation study. We illustrate the methods using data from the Coronary Artery Surgery Study (CASS).

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