Evaluating a Targeted Minimum Loss-Based Estimator for Capture-Recapture Analysis: An Application to HIV Surveillance in San Francisco, California.

ABSTRACT: The capture-recapture method is a common tool used in epidemiology to estimate the size of "hidden" populations and correct the underascertainment of cases, based on incomplete and overlapping lists of the target population. Log-linear models are often used to estimate the population size yet may produce implausible and unreliable estimates due to model misspecification and small cell sizes. A novel targeted minimum loss-based estimation (TMLE) model developed for capture-recapture makes several notable improvements to conventional modeling: "targeting" the parameter of interest, flexibly fitting the data to alternative functional forms, and limiting bias from small cell sizes. Using simulations and empirical data from the San Francisco, California, Department of Public Health's human immu

SUBMITTER: Wesson P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10999650 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature