ArticleEpidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.)2014
On the causal interpretation of race in regressions adjusting for confounding and mediating variables.
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 284 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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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
284 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Ethnoracial disparities in breast cancer treatment time and survival: a systematic review with a DAG-based causal model.Epidemiologic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Conceptualization, Operationalization, and Utilization of Race and Ethnicity in Major Epidemiology Journals, 1995-2018: A Systematic Review.American journal of epidemiology · 2023Pooled it
- Private Well Testing in Peri-Urban African-American Communities Lacking Access to Regulated Municipal Drinking Water: A Mental Models Approach to Risk Communication.Risk analysis : an official publication of the Society for Risk Analysis · 2022Trial
- Mediation effects that emulate a target randomised trial: Simulation-based evaluation of ill-defined interventions on multiple mediators.Statistical methods in medical research · 2021Trial
- Racial inequities in severe maternal morbidity among Black and White people in Canada: a population-based cohort study, 2012 to 2023.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2026Article
- Loneliness and desire for thinness explain sex differences in adolescent internalizing problems.Nature human behaviour · 2026Article
- Residential exposure to deadly gun violence and accelerated biological aging in a national sample of U.S. adolescents.SSM - population health · 2026Article
- How Do Poverty, Insurance, and Government Assistance Impact Diabetic Foot Ulcer Outcomes? A Scoping Review.Diabetes/metabolism research and reviews · 2026Article
- An alternative to causal mediation for inequality research: which questions can be answered?Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Article
- Exploring Social Determinants of Cognitive Functioning: History of Criminal Legal System Involvement and Processing Speed among Older Black Americans.Sociological focus · 2026Article
- Epidemiology of Health-Related Social Needs Screening and Positivity in a Multistate Health System.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Racial Differences in Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes and Incident Hypertension: A Mediation Analysis.Journal of the American Heart Association · 2026Article
- Social determinants as pathways in disparities in oral cavity cancer stage at diagnosis: a registry-based analysis from 2010-2020.Cancer causes & control : CCC · 2026Article
- Childhood socioeconomic status and changes in biological aging across mid-to-later life.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2026Article
- The predicted body weight equation overestimates lung sizes of female, critically ill patients: an analysis of randomized, controlled trials and real-world clinical data.Intensive care medicine · 2026Article
- Maternal and neonatal health in Canada's Black communities: A scoping review of epidemiologic studies.Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique · 2026Article
- The use of race and ethnicity in air pollution epidemiology and methodological recommendations: A scoping review focusing on California.Environmental epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2026Review
- Need-standardised comparisons are required before inferring sex and gender bias in major trauma care.Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine · 2026Article
- Arrest Status, Suicide-Related Outcomes, and Moderating Social Factors: A Cross-sectional Study of a U.S. Sample (2015-2019).Community mental health journal · 2026Article
- Incorporating polygenic risk scores and social determinants of health across populations: Considerations and best practices in research.American journal of human genetics · 2026Review
224 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Abstract
We consider several possible interpretations of the "effect of race" when regressions are run with race as an exposure variable, controlling also for various confounding and mediating variables. When adjustment is made for socioeconomic status early in a person's life, we discuss under what contexts the regression coefficients for race can be interpreted as corresponding to the extent to which a racial inequality would remain if various socioeconomic distributions early in life across racial groups could be equalized. When adjustment is also made for adult socioeconomic status, we note how the overall racial inequality can be decomposed into the portion that would be eliminated by equalizing adult socioeconomic status across racial groups and the portion of the inequality that would remain even if adult socioeconomic status across racial groups were equalized. We also discuss a stronger interpretation of the effect of race (stronger in terms of assumptions) involving the joint effects of race-associated physical phenotype (eg, skin color), parental physical phenotype, genetic background, and cultural context when such variables are thought to be hypothetically manipulable and if adequate control for confounding were possible. We discuss some of the challenges with such an interpretation. Further discussion is given as to how the use of selected populations in examining racial disparities can additionally complicate the interpretation of the effects.
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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.