Estimation and Inference for the Mediation Proportion.

ABSTRACT: In epidemiology, public health and social science, mediation analysis is often undertaken to investigate the extent to which the effect of a risk factor on an outcome of interest is mediated by other covariates. A pivotal quantity of interest in such an analysis is the mediation proportion. A common method for estimating it, termed the "difference method", compares estimates from models with and without the hypothesized mediator. However, rigorous methodology for estimation and statistical inference for this quantity has not previously been available. We formulated the problem for the Cox model and generalized linear models, and utilize a data duplication algorithm together with a generalized estimation equations approach for estimating the mediation proportion and its variance. We further

SUBMITTER: Nevo D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6014631 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature