Emulating a Target Trial of Interventions Initiated During Pregnancy with Healthcare Databases: The Example of COVID-19 Vaccination.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Observational studies are often the only option to estimate effects of interventions during pregnancy. Causal inference from observational data can be conceptualized as an attempt to emulate a hypothetical pragmatic randomized trial: the target trial.

Objective

To provide a step-by-step description of how to use healthcare databases to estimate the effects of interventions initiated during pregnancy. As an example, we describe how to specify and emulate a target trial of COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy, but the framework can be generally applied to point and sustained strategies involving both pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic interventions.

Methods

First, we specify the protocol of a target trial to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of vaccinat

SUBMITTER: Hernandez-Diaz S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9891154 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature