Abstract
Many analyses of observational data are attempts to emulate a target trial. The emulation
of the target trial may fail when researchers deviate from simple principles that
guide the design and analysis of randomized experiments. We review a framework to
describe and prevent biases, including immortal time bias, that result from a failure
to align start of follow-up, specification of eligibility, and treatment assignment.
We review some analytic approaches to avoid these problems in comparative effectiveness
or safety research.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 27, 2016
Accepted:
April 23,
2016
Footnotes
Funding: This research was partly funded by NIH grant P01 CA134294.
Conflict of interest: None of the authors report any conflict of interest.
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
