ArticleInternational journal of epidemiology2017
How to compare instrumental variable and conventional regression analyses using negative controls and bias plots.
Article in International journal of epidemiology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 53 citations in OpenAlex.
- Strengthening the reporting of observational studies in epidemiology using Mendelian randomization (STROBE-MR): a Korean translation of explanation and elaboration.Ewha medical journal · 2025Guideline
- Pooled it
- Using Negative Control Outcomes to Detect Selection Bias in Mendelian Randomization Studies.Statistics in medicine · 2026Article
- PERsonalised Medicine for Intensification of Treatment (PERMIT) in type 2 diabetes mellitus: a target trial emulation from routine data.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2026Article
- Challenges and future directions for Mendelian randomization.Nature genetics · 2026Review
- Article
- Capitalising on Tax Variation to Estimate the Effect of Alcohol Consumption on Edentulism.Journal of clinical periodontology · 2025Article
- Using negative controls to identify causal effects with invalid instrumental variables.Biometrika · 2025Article
- Triangulating Instrumental Variable, confounder adjustment and difference-in-difference methods for comparative effectiveness research in observational data.Wellcome open research · 2025Article
- Reading and conducting instrumental variable studies: guide, glossary, and checklist.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2024Article
- Using the global randomization test as a Mendelian randomization falsification test for the exclusion restriction assumption.European journal of epidemiology · 2024Article
- The State of Use and Utility of Negative Controls in Pharmacoepidemiologic Studies.American journal of epidemiology · 2024Review
- Does cycle commuting reduce the risk of mental ill-health? An instrumental variable analysis using distance to nearest cycle path.International journal of epidemiology · 2024Article
- Frameworks for estimating causal effects in observational settings: comparing confounder adjustment and instrumental variables.BMC medical research methodology · 2023Review
- Comparison of intergenerational instrumental variable analyses of body mass index and mortality in UK Biobank.International journal of epidemiology · 2023Article
- Prenatal alcohol exposure and child sleep problems: A family-based quasi-experimental study.JCPP advances · 2022Article
- Exploring and mitigating potential bias when genetic instrumental variables are associated with multiple non-exposure traits in Mendelian randomization.European journal of epidemiology · 2022Article
- Propensity Score and Instrumental Variable Techniques in Observational Transplantation Studies: An Overview and Worked Example Relating to Pre-Transplant Cardiac Screening.Transplant international : official journal of the European Society for Organ Transplantation · 2022Article
- Strengthening the reporting of observational studies in epidemiology using mendelian randomisation (STROBE-MR): explanation and elaboration.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2021Article
- Hyperopia Is Not Causally Associated With a Major Deficit in Educational Attainment.Translational vision science & technology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
There is increasing interest in the use of instrumental variable analysis to overcome unmeasured confounding in observational pharmacoepidemiological studies. This is partly because instrumental variable analyses are potentially less biased than conventional regression analyses. However, instrumental variable analyses are less precise, and regulators and clinicians find it difficult to interpret conflicting evidence from instrumental variable compared with conventional regression analyses. In this paper, we describe three techniques to assess which approach (instrumental variable versus conventional regression analyses) is least biased. These techniques are negative control outcomes, negative control populations and tests of covariate balance. We illustrate these methods using an analysis of the effects of smoking cessation therapies (varenicline) prescribed in primary care.
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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.