Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27067123›Full record

ArticleBMC public health2016

The effect of adherence to statin therapy on cardiovascular mortality: quantification of unmeasured bias using falsification end-points.

Maarten J Bijlsma, Stijn Vansteelandt, Fanny Janssen, Eelko Hak

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Article in BMC public health, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

5 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Observational
  2. Review
  3. Article
  4. Diagnosis and Management of Statin Intolerance.Journal of atherosclerosis and thrombosis · 2019 · on this map
    Review
  5. 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

4 authors.

Maarten J BijlsmaUnit PharmacoEpidemiology & PharmacoEconomics (PE2), Department of Pharmacy, University of Groningen, A. Deusinglaan 1, PO BOX 9713 AV, Groningen, The Netherlands. Maarten.bijlsma@rug.nl.
Stijn VansteelandtDepartment of Applied Mathematics, Computer Science and Statistics, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281, S9, 9000, Ghent, Belgium.
Fanny JanssenPopulation Research Centre (PRC), Faculty of Spatial Sciences, University of Groningen, Landleven 1, 9747 AD, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Eelko HakUnit PharmacoEpidemiology & PharmacoEconomics (PE2), Department of Pharmacy, University of Groningen, A. Deusinglaan 1, PO BOX 9713 AV, Groningen, The Netherlands.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundTo determine the clinical effectiveness of statins on cardiovascular mortality in practice, observational studies are needed. Control for confounding is essential in any observational study. Falsification end-points may be useful to determine if bias is present after adjustment has taken place.

methodsWe followed starters on statin therapy in the Netherlands aged 46 to 100 years over the period 1996 to 2012, from initiation of statin therapy until cardiovascular mortality or censoring. Within this group (n = 49,688, up to 16 years of follow-up), we estimated the effect of adherence to statin therapy (0 = completely non-adherent, 1 = fully adherent) on ischemic heart diseases and cerebrovascular disease (ICD10-codes I20-I25 and I60-I69) as well as respiratory and endocrine disease mortality (ICD10-codes J00-J99 and E00-E90) as falsification end points, controlling for demographic factors, socio-economic factors, birth cohort, adherence to other cardiovascular medications, and diabetes using time-varying Cox regression models.

resultsFalsification end-points indicated that a simpler model was less biased than a model with more controls. Adherence to statins appeared to be protective against cardiovascular mortality (HR: 0.70, 95 % CI 0.61 to 0.81).

conclusionsFalsification end-points helped detect overadjustment bias or bias due to competing risks, and thereby proved to be a useful technique in such a complex setting.

Indexed as

Drug MonitoringAgedAged, 80 and overBiasCardiovascular DiseasesFemaleFollow-Up StudiesHumansHydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase InhibitorsMaleMiddle AgedNetherlandsProportional Hazards ModelsRiskHydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase InhibitorsBiasCardiovascularFalsification end-pointsMortalityOveradjustmentStatin therapy

Identifiers

PMID27067123
PMCPMC4827225

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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.