Mediation Analysis using Semi-parametric Shape-Restricted Regression with Applications.

ABSTRACT: Often linear regression is used to perform mediation analysis. However, in many instances, the underlying relationships may not be linear, as in the case of placentalfetal hormones and fetal development. Although, the exact functional form of the relationship may be unknown, one may hypothesize the general shape of the relationship. For these reasons, we develop a novel shape-restricted inference-based methodology for conducting mediation analysis. This work is motivated by an application in fetal endocrinology where researchers are interested in understanding the effects of pesticide application on birth weight, with human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) as the mediator. We assume a practically plausible set of nonlinear effects of hCG on the birth weight and a linear relationship between pe

SUBMITTER: Yin Q 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10705571 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature