The M-Value: A Simple Sensitivity Analysis for Bias Due to Missing Data in Treatment Effect Estimates.

ABSTRACT: Complete-case analyses can be biased if missing data are not missing completely at random. We propose simple sensitivity analyses that apply to complete-case estimates of treatment effects; these analyses use only simple summary data and obviate specifying the precise mechanism of missingness and making distributional assumptions. Bias arises when treatment effects differ between retained and nonretained participants or, among retained participants, the estimate is biased because conditioning on retention has induced a noncausal path between the treatment and outcome. We thus bound the overall treatment effect on the difference scale by specifying: 1) the unobserved treatment effect among nonretained participants; and 2) the strengths of association that unobserved variables have with the

SUBMITTER: Mathur MB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10089074 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature