Bias due to Selection on Live Births in Studies of Environmental Exposures during Pregnancy: A Simulation Study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Studies of the effects of prenatal environmental exposures on postnatal outcomes are particularly vulnerable to live birth bias; i.e., the bias that arises from the necessary restriction of the analysis to live births when that is influenced by both the exposure under study A and unmeasured factors U that also affect the outcome.

Objectives

In the context of a recent publication of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that found an odds ratio (OR) of 0.77 per 5.85 ppb NO2 during pregnancy, we aimed to examine what parameters would be needed to account for this protective association through live birth bias.

Methods

We simulated the magnitude of bias under two selection mechanisms and when both mechanisms co-occur, assuming a true null e

SUBMITTER: Leung M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8043129 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature