对于协变量缺失随机的倾向评分分析的多重插补:“内部”和“外部”方法的一些澄清。
Multiple imputation for propensity score analysis with covariates missing at random: some clarity on "within" and "across" methods.
机构信息
Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21205, United States.
Department of Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21205, United States.
出版信息
Am J Epidemiol. 2024 Oct 7;193(10):1470-1476. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwae105.
In epidemiology and the social sciences, propensity score methods are popular for estimating treatment effects using observational data, and multiple imputation is popular for handling covariate missingness. However, how to appropriately use multiple imputation for propensity score analysis is not completely clear. This paper aims to bring clarity on the consistency (or lack thereof) of methods that have been proposed, focusing on the "within" approach (where the effect is estimated separately in each imputed dataset and then the multiple estimates are combined) and the "across" approach (where typically propensity scores are averaged across imputed datasets before being used for effect estimation). We show that the within method is valid and can be used with any causal effect estimator that is consistent in the full-data setting. Existing across methods are inconsistent, but a different across method that averages the inverse probability weights across imputed datasets is consistent for propensity score weighting. We also comment on methods that rely on imputing a function of the missing covariate rather than the covariate itself, including imputation of the propensity score and of the probability weight. Based on consistency results and practical flexibility, we recommend generally using the standard within method. Throughout, we provide intuition to make the results meaningful to the broad audience of applied researchers.
在流行病学和社会科学中,倾向评分方法常用于使用观察性数据估计治疗效果,而多重插补法常用于处理协变量缺失。然而,如何恰当地将多重插补法应用于倾向评分分析尚不完全清楚。本文旨在阐明已提出的方法的一致性(或缺乏一致性),重点关注“内部”方法(在每个插补数据集中分别估计效果,然后合并多个估计值)和“跨”方法(通常在使用效果估计之前在插补数据集中平均倾向评分)。我们表明,内部方法是有效的,并且可以与在完整数据设置中一致的任何因果效应估计器一起使用。现有的跨方法是不一致的,但一种不同的跨方法,即跨插补数据集平均逆概率权重,对于倾向评分加权是一致的。我们还评论了依赖于插补缺失协变量的函数而不是协变量本身的方法,包括倾向评分和概率权重的插补。基于一致性结果和实际灵活性,我们建议通常使用标准的内部方法。全文提供了直观的解释,使结果对广大应用研究人员有意义。
相似文献
Stat Methods Med Res. 2017-6-2
Eur J Epidemiol. 2018-10-19
BMC Med Res Methodol. 2020-6-26
BMC Med Res Methodol. 2017-1-9
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021-6-22
Multivariate Behav Res. 2024
引用本文的文献
Am J Epidemiol. 2024-10-7
本文引用的文献
Stat Methods Med Res. 2020-12
Stat Med. 2019-9-11
Stat Med. 2018-4-16
Stat Methods Med Res. 2017-6-2
Stat Methods Med Res. 2016-12
Stat Methods Med Res. 2016-2