ArticleEpidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.)2016
Brief Report: Negative Controls to Detect Selection Bias and Measurement Bias in Epidemiologic Studies.
Article in Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.), 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 72 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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
72 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Repurposing anti-inflammasome NRTIs for improving insulin sensitivity and reducing type 2 diabetes development.Nature communications · 2020Pooled it
- Risks and Benefits of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Medication on Behavioral and Neuropsychiatric Outcomes: A Qualitative Review of Pharmacoepidemiology Studies Using Linked Prescription Databases.Biological psychiatry · 2019Pooled it
- Validating and leveraging non-SARS-CoV-2 respiratory infection as a negative control outcome in a phase 3 COVID-19 vaccine trial with extended observational follow-up.American journal of epidemiology · 2026Trial
- Influence of Temperature and Precipitation on the Effectiveness of Water, Sanitation, and Handwashing Interventions against Childhood Diarrheal Disease in Rural Bangladesh: A Reanalysis of the WASH Benefits Bangladesh Trial.Environmental health perspectives · 2024Trial
- Target trial emulation to assess real-world efficacy in the Epidemiological Strategy and Medical Economics metastatic breast cancer cohort.Journal of the National Cancer Institute · 2023Trial
- Effect of Improved Water Quality, Sanitation, Hygiene and Nutrition Interventions on Respiratory Illness in Young Children in Rural Bangladesh: A Multi-Arm Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2020Trial
- A Stepped Wedge Cluster-Randomized Trial Assessing the Impact of a Riverbank Filtration Intervention to Improve Access to Safe Water on Health in Rural India.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2020Trial
- Effects of water quality, sanitation, handwashing, and nutritional interventions on diarrhoea and child growth in rural Bangladesh: a cluster randomised controlled trial.The Lancet. Global health · 2018Trial
- Exhaustion, Not Low Engagement, Differentiates Work-Related and Non-Work-Related Depression in Korean Wage Workers: A Negative-Control Analysis.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Administrative Burden and Patient-Provider Communication Quality: Evidence From 11 Years of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey.Journal of evaluation in clinical practice · 2026Article
- Negative controls and how to use them: a guidance paper.International journal of epidemiology · 2026Article
- Using Negative Control Outcomes to Detect Selection Bias in Mendelian Randomization Studies.Statistics in medicine · 2026Article
- How Negative Controls Are Used in Pharmacoepidemiology: A Methodological Scoping Review of Real-World Observational Studies of Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists.Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety · 2026Article
- Improving Inference in Air Pollution Epidemiology: The Case for Rethinking Multipollutant Adjustment.Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2026Article
- Payer-perspective direct medical costs during observed postoperative follow-up after gonioscopy-assisted transluminal trabeculotomy versus mitomycin-augmented trabeculectomy in Turkey.BMC ophthalmology · 2026Article
- Reducing unmeasured confounding from non-compliance with randomization in surgical RCTs: a simulation study.BMC medical research methodology · 2026Article
- Pitfalls of Using Negative Control Outcomes in Environmental Epidemiology.Current environmental health reports · 2025Article
- Conceptualizing Experimental Controls Using the Potential Outcomes Framework.The American statistician · 2025Article
- Pathways through which water, sanitation, hygiene, and nutrition interventions reduce antibiotic use in young children: a mediation analysis of a cohort nested within a cluster-randomized trial.EClinicalMedicine · 2025Article
- Detection bias and the role of negative control outcomes.BMJ medicine · 2025Article
12 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
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Biomedical laboratory experiments routinely use negative controls to identify possible sources of bias, but epidemiologic studies have infrequently used this type of control in their design or measurement approach. Recently, epidemiologists proposed the routine use of negative controls in observational studies and defined the structure of negative controls to detect bias due to unmeasured confounding. We extend this previous study and define the structure of negative controls to detect selection bias and measurement bias in both observational studies and randomized trials. We illustrate the strengths and limitations of negative controls in this context using examples from the epidemiologic literature. Given their demonstrated utility and broad generalizability, the routine use of prespecified negative controls will strengthen the evidence from epidemiologic studies.
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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.