A causal framework for classical statistical estimands in failure-time settings with competing events.

ABSTRACT: In failure-time settings, a competing event is any event that makes it impossible for the event of interest to occur. For example, cardiovascular disease death is a competing event for prostate cancer death because an individual cannot die of prostate cancer once he has died of cardiovascular disease. Various statistical estimands have been defined as possible targets of inference in the classical competing risks literature. Many reviews have described these statistical estimands and their estimating procedures with recommendations about their use. However, this previous work has not used a formal framework for characterizing causal effects and their identifying conditions, which makes it difficult to interpret effect estimates and assess recommendations regarding analytic choices. Here we

SUBMITTER: Young JG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7811594 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature