ArticleCurrent developments in nutrition2019
Methods for the Selection of Covariates in Nutritional Epidemiology Studies: A Meta-Epidemiological Review.
Article in Current developments in nutrition, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
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- Inhaled corticosteroids, COPD, and the incidence of lung cancer: a systematic review and dose response meta-analysis.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Assessments of risk of bias in systematic reviews of observational nutritional epidemiologic studies are often not appropriate or comprehensive: a methodological study.BMJ nutrition, prevention & health · 2021Pooled it
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- An Exploratory Indirect Association Analysis of Dietary Supplement Use and Metabolic Risk in Korean Adolescents: A Cross-Sectional Study.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Prevalence of overweight and obesity and their associations with lifestyle habits among late adolescents in the Northern Border Region of Saudi Arabia: a cross‑sectional study.BMC public health · 2026Article
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- Associations between dietary intake of live microorganisms, fermented foods, and the fermented food microbial richness index and cardiometabolic health in Swiss adults: a cross-sectional analysis.European journal of nutrition · 2026Article
- "Shaking the ladder" reveals how analytic choices can influence associations in nutrition epidemiology: beef intake and coronary heart disease as a case study.Critical reviews in food science and nutrition · 2026Review
- Metal accumulation in paired colon cancer and adjacent tissues and its relationship with genotoxic and epigenetic biomarkers.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Care Partners' Engagement in Preventing Falls for Community-Dwelling Older People With Dementia.The Gerontologist · 2024Article
- Pitfalls in Developing Machine Learning Models for Predicting Cardiovascular Diseases: Challenge and Solutions.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Article
- Association of Tree Nut Consumption with Cardiovascular Disease and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors and Health Outcomes in US Adults: NHANES 2011-2018.Current developments in nutrition · 2023Article
- Association between the Mediterranean Diet Index and self-reported Gingival Health Status Indicators in a population of Chilean adults: a cross-sectional study.Journal of applied oral science : revista FOB · 2023Article
- Predictive Utility of Composite Child Feeding Indices (CCFIs) for Child Nutritional Status: Comparative Analyses for the Most Suitable Formula for Constructing an Optimum CCFI.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Review
- Ultra-processed food consumption, socio-demographics and diet quality in Australian adults.Public health nutrition · 2022Article
- Meal Pattern Analysis in Nutritional Science: Recent Methods and Findings.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
14 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundObservational studies provide important information about the effects of exposures that cannot be easily studied in clinical trials, such as nutritional exposures, but are subject to confounding. Investigators adjust for confounders by entering them as covariates in analytic models.
objectiveThe aim of this study was to evaluate the reporting and credibility of methods for selection of covariates in nutritional epidemiology studies.
methodsWe sampled 150 nutritional epidemiology studies published in 2007/2008 and 2017/2018 from the top 5 high-impact nutrition and medical journals and extracted information on methods for selection of covariates.
resultsMost studies did not report selecting covariates a priori (94.0%) or criteria for selection of covariates (63.3%). There was general inconsistency in choice of covariates, even among studies investigating similar questions. One-third of studies did not acknowledge potential for residual confounding in their discussion.
conclusionStudies often do not report methods for selection of covariates, follow available guidance for selection of covariates, nor discuss potential for residual confounding.
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