Evidence map›Paper›PMID 23280682›Full record

Trial reportPharmacoepidemiology and drug safety2013

Investigating differences in treatment effect estimates between propensity score matching and weighting: a demonstration using STAR*D trial data.

Alan R Ellis, Stacie B Dusetzina, Richard A Hansen, Bradley N Gaynes, Joel F Farley, Til Stürmer

Abstract readComparative StudyRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Inpatient COVID-19 outcomes in solid organ transplant recipients compared to non-solid organ transplant patients: A retrospective cohort.American journal of transplantation : official journal of the American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons · 2021
    Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. Article
  7. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Alan R EllisCecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA. are@unc.edu
Stacie B Dusetzina
Richard A Hansen
Bradley N Gaynes
Joel F Farley
Til Stürmer

Funding

Health Policy Training Program: Promoting Outcomes, Quality, Equity and Diffusion of AdvancesT32MH019733 · NIMH · HARVARD UNIVERSITY (MEDICAL SCHOOL) · PI Benjamin Le Cook, Haiden A Huskamp · 1993 to 2026
$7.0M
Propensity Scores and Preventive Drug Use in the ElderlyR01AG023178 · NIA · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · PI STURMER, TIL · 2005 to 2014
$2.7M
Medication Use, Cormobidity and Outcomes in Aging PopulationsR01AG018833 · NIA · BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL · PI GLYNN, ROBERT J · 2002 to 2010
$2.0M
NIA NIH HHS R01 AG018833NIA NIH HHS R01 AG023178NIMH NIH HHS T32 MH019733
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeThe choice of propensity score (PS) implementation influences treatment effect estimates not only because different methods estimate different quantities, but also because different estimators respond in different ways to phenomena such as treatment effect heterogeneity and limited availability of potential matches. Using effectiveness data, we describe lessons learned from sensitivity analyses with matched and weighted estimates.

methodsWith subsample data (N = 1292) from Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression, a 2001-2004 effectiveness trial of depression treatments, we implemented PS matching and weighting to estimate the treatment effect in the treated and conducted multiple sensitivity analyses.

resultsMatching and weighting both balanced covariates but yielded different samples and treatment effect estimates (matched RR 1.00, 95% CI: 0.75-1.34; weighted RR 1.28, 95% CI: 0.97-1.69). In sensitivity analyses, as increasing numbers of observations at both ends of the PS distribution were excluded from the weighted analysis, weighted estimates approached the matched estimate (weighted RR 1.04, 95% CI 0.77-1.39 after excluding all observations below the 5th percentile of the treated and above the 95th percentile of the untreated). Treatment appeared to have benefits only in the highest and lowest PS strata.

conclusionsMatched and weighted estimates differed due to incomplete matching, sensitivity of weighted estimates to extreme observations, and possibly treatment effect heterogeneity. PS analysis requires identifying the population and treatment effect of interest, selecting an appropriate implementation method, and conducting and reporting sensitivity analyses. Weighted estimation especially should include sensitivity analyses relating to influential observations, such as those treated contrary to prediction.

Indexed as

Propensity ScoreAntidepressive AgentsHumansMajor Depressive DisorderProspective StudiesStatistics as TopicTreatment OutcomeAntidepressive Agents

Identifiers

PMID23280682
PMCPMC3639482

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.