Evidence map›Paper›PMID 24815306›Full record

ArticleEpidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.)2014

Comparison of bias analysis strategies applied to a large data set.

Timothy L Lash, Barbara Abrams, Lisa M Bodnar

Open access · greenAbstract readComparative Study
In one paragraph

Article in Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.), 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
19citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
5.6field-weighted citation impact, top 5% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

19 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 35 citations in OpenAlex.

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  19. Validity of birth certificate-derived maternal weight data.Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology · 2014
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Timothy L LashFrom the aDepartment of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA; bDivision of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California; cDepartment of Epidemiology, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, PA; dDepartment of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, PA; and eMagee-Womens Research Institute, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, PA.
Barbara Abrams
Lisa M Bodnar
Emory University · USUniversity of California, Berkeley · USUniversity of Pittsburgh · US

Funding

Maternal obesity, weight gain, and the black-white disparity in pregnancy outcomeR21HD065807 · NICHD · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · PI BODNAR, LISA M · 2011 to 2012
$443k
NICHD NIH HHS R21 HD065807
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundEpidemiologic data sets continue to grow larger. Probabilistic-bias analyses, which simulate hundreds of thousands of replications of the original data set, may challenge desktop computational resources.

methodsWe implemented a probabilistic-bias analysis to evaluate the direction, magnitude, and uncertainty of the bias arising from misclassification of prepregnancy body mass index when studying its association with early preterm birth in a cohort of 773,625 singleton births. We compared 3 bias analysis strategies: (1) using the full cohort, (2) using a case-cohort design, and (3) weighting records by their frequency in the full cohort.

resultsUnderweight and overweight mothers were more likely to deliver early preterm. A validation substudy demonstrated misclassification of prepregnancy body mass index derived from birth certificates. Probabilistic-bias analyses suggested that the association between underweight and early preterm birth was overestimated by the conventional approach, whereas the associations between overweight categories and early preterm birth were underestimated. The 3 bias analyses yielded equivalent results and challenged our typical desktop computing environment. Analyses applied to the full cohort, case cohort, and weighted full cohort required 7.75 days and 4 terabytes, 15.8 hours and 287 gigabytes, and 8.5 hours and 202 gigabytes, respectively.

conclusionsLarge epidemiologic data sets often include variables that are imperfectly measured, often because data were collected for other purposes. Probabilistic-bias analysis allows quantification of errors but may be difficult in a desktop computing environment. Solutions that allow these analyses in this environment can be achieved without new hardware and within reasonable computational time frames.

Indexed as

BiasData Interpretation, StatisticalBody Mass IndexCase-Control StudiesCohort StudiesDatasets as TopicFemaleHumansModels, StatisticalPregnancyPregnancy OutcomeProbabilityRacial GroupsResearch DesignWeight Gain

Identifiers

PMID24815306
PMCPMC4306386
OpenAlexW2329724913

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.