Matching with time-dependent treatments: A review and look forward.

ABSTRACT: Observational studies of treatment effects attempt to mimic a randomized experiment by balancing the covariate distribution in treated and control groups, thus removing biases related to measured confounders. Methods such as weighting, matching, and stratification, with or without a propensity score, are common in cross-sectional data. When treatments are initiated over longitudinal follow-up, a target pragmatic trial can be emulated using appropriate matching methods. The ideal experiment of interest is simple; patients would be enrolled sequentially, randomized to one or more treatments and followed subsequently. This tutorial defines a class of longitudinal matching methods that emulate this experiment and provides a review of existing variations, with guidance regarding study design, e

SUBMITTER: Thomas LE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7384144 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature