Inverse probability weighting to handle attrition in cohort studies: some guidance and a call for caution.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Attrition in cohort studies challenges causal inference. Although inverse probability weighting (IPW) has been proposed to handle attrition in association analyses, its relevance has been little studied in this context. We aimed to investigate its ability to correct for selection bias in exposure-outcome estimation by addressing an important methodological issue: the specification of the response model.

Methods

A simulation study compared the IPW method with complete-case analysis (CCA) for nine response-mechanism scenarios (3 missing at random - MAR and 6 missing not at random - MNAR). Eighteen response models differing by the type of variables included were assessed.

Results

The IPW method was equivalent to CCA in terms of bias and consistently less effic

SUBMITTER: Metten MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8848672 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature