ReviewNature reviews. Rheumatology2014
Selection bias in rheumatic disease research.
Review in Nature reviews. Rheumatology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 63 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
63 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Harnessing Big Data, Smart and Digital Technologies and Artificial Intelligence for Preventing, Early Intercepting, Managing, and Treating Psoriatic Arthritis: Insights From a Systematic Review of the Literature.Frontiers in immunology · 2022Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Combined Conventional Synthetic Disease Modifying Therapy vs. Infliximab for Rheumatoid Arthritis: Emulating a Randomized Trial in Observational Data.Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics · 2022Trial
- Trial
- Sex-specific traditional and disease-related risk factors for incident heart failure in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a registry-based cohort study.Clinical rheumatology · 2026Article
- Higher Grip Strength Is Associated With Reduced Risk of Incident Symptomatic Hand Osteoarthritis: Data From Two Cohort Studies.Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle · 2026Article
- MUC5B promoter variant and survival in rheumatoid arthritis-associated interstitial lung disease.Rheumatology (Oxford, England) · 2025Article
- The impact of biosimilar use on healthcare utilization among new users of etanercept for inflammatory arthritis: a population-based regression discontinuity analysis.Lancet regional health. Americas · 2025Article
- Article
- Assessing the association of epigenetic age acceleration with osteoarthritis in the Multicenter Osteoarthritis Study (MOST).Osteoarthritis and cartilage · 2024Article
- Association between sinusitis and incident rheumatic diseases: a population-based study.RMD open · 2024Article
- Interaction of genetic variation at ADH1B and MLXIPL with alcohol consumption for elevated serum urate level and gout among people of European ethnicity.Arthritis research & therapy · 2024Article
- Obesity and the risk of multiple or severe frequent knee pain episodes: a 4-year follow-up of the ELSA-Brasil MSK cohort.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2024Article
- Gene-respiratory disease interactions for rheumatoid arthritis risk.Seminars in arthritis and rheumatism · 2023Article
- Risk of severe infections after the introduction of biologic DMARDs in people with newly diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis: a population-based interrupted time-series analysis.Rheumatology (Oxford, England) · 2023Article
- Association between knee osteoarthritis and mortality: a serial propensity score-matched cohort study.The Korean journal of internal medicine · 2023Article
- Association between psoriatic disease and lifestyle factors and comorbidities: cross-sectional analysis and Mendelian randomization.Rheumatology (Oxford, England) · 2023Article
- The impact of disease severity measures on survival in U.S. veterans with rheumatoid arthritis-associated interstitial lung disease.Rheumatology (Oxford, England) · 2022Article
3 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The identification of modifiable risk factors for the development of rheumatic conditions and their sequelae is crucial for reducing the substantial worldwide burden of these diseases. However, the validity of such research can be threatened by sources of bias, including confounding, measurement and selection biases. In this Review, we discuss potentially major issues of selection bias--a type of bias frequently overshadowed by other bias and feasibility issues, despite being equally or more problematic--in key areas of rheumatic disease research. We present index event bias (a type of selection bias) as one of the potentially unifying reasons behind some unexpected findings, such as the 'risk factor paradox'--a phenomenon exemplified by the discrepant effects of certain risk factors on the development versus the progression of osteoarthritis (OA) or rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We also discuss potential selection biases owing to differential loss to follow-up in RA and OA research, as well as those due to the depletion of susceptibles (prevalent user bias) and immortal time bias. The lesson remains that selection bias can be ubiquitous and, therefore, has the potential to lead the field astray. Thus, we conclude with suggestions to help investigators avoid such issues and limit the impact on future rheumatology research.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.