ArticleRheumatology (Oxford, England)2020
Methodological considerations when analysing and interpreting real-world data.
Article in Rheumatology (Oxford, England), 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 51 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
51 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Concordance between target trial emulation and randomised controlled trials: systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2026Pooled it
- Comparative efficacy between real-world and randomized studies of palbociclib+endocrine therapy in HR-positive/HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer: systematic review and meta-analysis.JNCI cancer spectrum · 2025Pooled it
- Framework for the synthesis of non-randomised studies and randomised controlled trials: a guidance on conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis for healthcare decision making.BMJ evidence-based medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Aspirin, metformin, and statin use on the risk of gastric cancer: A nationwide population-based cohort study in Korea with systematic review and meta-analysis.Cancer medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Improving rheumatoid arthritis comparative effectiveness research through causal inference principles: systematic review using a target trial emulation framework.Annals of the rheumatic diseases · 2020Pooled it
- Silent Pain or Silent Records? Pain Visibility, Documentation Ethics, and Nursing Management in Neurocritical Care.Nursing philosophy : an international journal for healthcare professionals · 2026Article
- Renal function-adjusted initial JAK inhibitor dosing and outcomes in rheumatoid arthritis: from the ANSWER cohort study.Clinical rheumatology · 2026Article
- Causal Machine Learning Analysis of Empirical Relative Biological Effectiveness for Mandible Osteoradionecrosis in Head and Neck Cancer Radiation Therapy.International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics · 2026Article
- Effectiveness of Galcanezumab and Traditional Oral Migraine Preventive Medications: Interim 3-Month Japan Subgroup Findings from the TRIUMPH Study.Advances in therapy · 2026Observational
- Effectiveness of Metformin in Preventing Colorectal Cancer Among Japanese Patients With Type 2 Diabetes: A Target Trial Emulation.Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety · 2026Article
- Cardioprotective glucose-lowering drugs, statins, and secondary major adverse cardiovascular events: a nationwide cohort study of individuals with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.Cardiovascular diabetology · 2026Article
- Addressing Unmet Needs in the Management of Small Cell Lung Cancer: Treatment of Brain Metastases, Quality of Life, and the Role of Real-World Evidence.Current treatment options in oncology · 2026Review
- Target Trial Emulation to Incorporate Real-World Data in the Estimation of the Clinical and Cost-Effectiveness of Biologic Treatment.Medical decision making : an international journal of the Society for Medical Decision Making · 2026Article
- Caution in handling switchers in pharmacoepidemiologic studies estimating treatment effects: the example of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors and inflammatory bowel disease.American journal of epidemiology · 2026Article
- Initiating multi-strain probiotics is associated with clinically meaningful symptom relief, better quality of life, and fewer treatment escalations in IBS-D/IBS-M: a Chinese real-world propensity-matched cohort study.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Developing a novel algorithm to identify incident and prevalent dementia in Medicare claims-the ARIC Study.American journal of epidemiology · 2025Article
- Requiring continuous enrollment during follow-up? A call for robust research methods.Journal of managed care & specialty pharmacy · 2025Article
- APPRAISE: A Tool for Appraising Potential for Bias in Real-World Evidence Studies on Medication Effectiveness or Safety.Value in health : the journal of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research · 2025Article
- Continued versus discontinued oral anticoagulant treatment for unprovoked venous thromboembolism: target trial emulation.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
In the absence of relevant data from randomized trials, nonexperimental studies are needed to estimate treatment effects on clinically meaningful outcomes. State-of-the-art study design is imperative for minimizing the potential for bias when using large healthcare databases (e.g. claims data, electronic health records, and product/disease registries). Critical design elements include new-users (begin follow-up at treatment initiation) reflecting hypothetical interventions and clear timelines, active-comparators (comparing treatment alternatives for the same indication), and consideration of induction and latent periods. Propensity scores can be used to balance measured covariates between treatment regimens and thus control for measured confounding. Immortal-time bias can be avoided by defining initiation of therapy and follow-up consistently between treatment groups. The aim of this manuscript is to provide a non-technical overview of study design issues and solutions and to highlight the importance of study design to minimize bias in nonexperimental studies using real-world data.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
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.