Causal inference concepts applied to three observational studies in the context of vaccine development: from theory to practice.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Randomized controlled trials are considered the gold standard to evaluate causal associations, whereas assessing causality in observational studies is challenging.

Methods

We applied Hill's Criteria, counterfactual reasoning, and causal diagrams to evaluate a potentially causal relationship between an exposure and outcome in three published observational studies: a) one burden of disease cohort study to determine the association between type 2 diabetes and herpes zoster, b) one post-authorization safety cohort study to assess the effect of AS04-HPV-16/18 vaccine on the risk of autoimmune diseases, and c) one matched case-control study to evaluate the effectiveness of a rotavirus vaccine in preventing hospitalization for rotavirus gastroenteritis.

Results

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SUBMITTER: Gvozdenovic E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7882866 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature