Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41263318›Full record

ArticleAmerican journal of epidemiology2026

Constructing targeted minimum loss/maximum likelihood estimators: a simple illustration to build intuition.

Rachael K Ross, Lina M Montoya, Dana E Goin, Iván Díaz, Audrey Renson

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in American journal of epidemiology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–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

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. 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

5 authors.

Rachael K RossDepartment of Epidemiology, Columbia University, New York, NY.
Lina M MontoyaSchool of Data Science and Society and Department of Biostatistics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC.
Dana E GoinDepartment of Epidemiology, Columbia University, New York, NY.
Iván DíazDepartment of Population Health, Grossman School of Medicine, New York University, New York, NY.
Audrey RensonDepartment of Population Health, New York University, New York, NY.

Funding

Real-Time Detection of Staphylococcus aureus Transmission in Hospital SettingsR01AI193629 · NIAID · NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE · PI RENSON, AUDREY, SHOPSIN, BO · 2025 to 2025
$3.2M
Evaluating the effect of water fluoridation on adverse birth outcomesR00ES033274 · NIEHS · COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · PI GOIN, DANA E · 2023 to 2025
$747k
What works, for whom? Applying novel precision medicine methods to people with mental illness in the justice system.R00MH133985 · NIMH · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · PI MONTOYA, LINA · 2024 to 2025
$729k
Building evidence for effective extended-release buprenorphine treatment for opioid use disorderK99DA061935 · NIDA · UTAH STATE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM--UNIVERSITY OF UTAH · PI Rachael Kendra Ross · 2025 to 2026
$404k
NIAID NIH HHS R01 AI193629NIDA NIH HHS K99 DA061935NIEHS NIH HHS R00 ES033274NIMH NIH HHS R00 MH133985
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Machine learning is increasingly used to estimate nuisance functions in causal inference. The efficient influence function (EIF) offers a principled way to construct estimators that can incorporate machine learning with valid inference (eg, estimate valid conference intervals). In this tutorial, we illustrate how to construct targeted maximum likelihood/minimum loss estimators from the EIF, a topic that is well covered in statistical literature but remains less accessible to applied researchers. A companion paper, Renson et al. 2025 (AJE, kwaf169) provides a thorough, but approachable description of the EIF and its derivation for a statistical estimand.

Indexed as

CausalityMachine LearningModels, StatisticalHumansLikelihood Functionsdouble robust estimatorsmachine learningtargeted learning

Identifiers

PMID41263318
PMCPMC12643179

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.