Permutation-based methods for mediation analysis in studies with small sample sizes.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Mediation analysis can be used to evaluate the effect of an exposure on an outcome acting through an intermediate variable or mediator. For studies with small sample sizes, permutation testing may be useful in evaluating the indirect effect (i.e., the effect of exposure on the outcome through the mediator) while maintaining the appropriate type I error rate. For mediation analysis in studies with small sample sizes, existing permutation testing methods permute the residuals under the full or alternative model, but have not been evaluated under situations where covariates are included. In this article, we consider and evaluate two additional permutation approaches for testing the indirect effect in mediation analysis based on permutating the residuals under the reduced or

SUBMITTER: Kroehl ME 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6982415 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature