Starting right: aligning eligibility and treatment assignment at time zero when emulating a target trial
Edouard L Fu, Michael O. Harhay, Sebastian Schneeweiss, Rishi Desai, Miguel A Hernán
Abstract
This article provides methodological guidance when emulating a target trial with longitudinal observational data by showing how to align eligibility criteria and treatment assignment at the start of follow-up to prevent design induced biases, such as immortal time and selection bias.
Topics & Concepts
Observational studyComputer scienceSelection (genetic algorithm)Zero (linguistics)Operations researchLongitudinal dataData miningArtificial intelligenceMachine learningResearch designClinical trialMEDLINEMedical physicsAlgorithmAdvanced Causal Inference TechniquesStatistical Methods in Clinical TrialsMeta-analysis and systematic reviews