Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30590417›Full record

ArticleAmerican journal of epidemiology2019

Counterpoint: Mediation Formulas With Binary Mediators and Outcomes and the "Rare Outcome Assumption".

Tyler J VanderWeele, Linda Valeri, Cande V Ananth

Abstract readComment
In one paragraph

Article in American journal of epidemiology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
9citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–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

9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Social determinants of health andFrontiers in public health · 2025
    Pooled it
  2. Time-Varying Mediation of Pharmacological Smoking Cessation Treatments on Smoking Lapse via Craving, Cessation Fatigue, and Negative Mood.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2022
    Trial
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Tyler J VanderWeeleDepartments of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts.
Linda ValeriDepartment of Biostatistics, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, New York.
Cande V AnanthDivision of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Funding

Theory and methods for mediation and interactionR01CA222147 · NCI · HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH · PI TCHETGEN TCHETGEN, ERIC JOEL, VANDERWEELE, TYLER · 2018 to 2022
$2.1M
NCI NIH HHS R01 CA222147
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

In their accompanying article, Samoilenko and Lefebvre (Am J Epidemiol. 2019;188(7):1203-1205) correctly note 2 typographical errors in the formulas presented in a 2011 paper on placental abruption by Ananth and VanderWeele (Am J Epidemiol. 2011;174(1):99-108). Fortunately, to the best of our knowledge, researchers are using our methods papers and Dr. VanderWeele's 2015 book on mediation analysis (Explanation in Causal Inference; Oxford University Press, New York, New York), rather than the paper on placental abruption, to carry out their direct and indirect effect analyses; and in our methods papers and the book, the formulas are correct. The formulas discussed by Samoilenko and Lefebvre and in our work make reference to a "rare outcome assumption." In evaluating this assumption, it is important to note that the outcome is to be relatively rare across all strata defined by the exposure and the mediator-a point that is often neglected.

Indexed as

Perinatal MortalityPremature BirthFemaleHumansInfant, NewbornNew YorkPregnancyUniversitiesdirect and indirect effectsmediationodds ratiosrare outcomes

Identifiers

PMID30590417
PMCPMC6601523

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.