Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Specifying a target trial prevents immortal time bias and other self-inflicted injuries in observational analyses

2016; Elsevier BV; Volume: 79; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.jclinepi.2016.04.014

1878-5921

Miguel A. Hernán, Brian C. Sauer, Sonia Hernández–Dı́az, Robert W. Platt, Ian Shrier,

Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life

Abstract Many analyses of observational data are attempts to emulate a target trial. The emulation of the target trial may fail when researchers deviate from simple principles that guide the design and analysis of randomized experiments. We review a framework to describe and prevent biases, including immortal time bias, that result from a failure to align start of follow-up, specification of eligibility, and treatment assignment. We review some analytic approaches to avoid these problems in comparative effectiveness or safety research.