ReviewBMC medical research methodology2020
A review of the use of propensity score diagnostics in papers published in high-ranking medical journals.
Review in BMC medical research methodology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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
33 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Reappraisal of Non-vitamin K Antagonist Oral Anticoagulants in Atrial Fibrillation Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2021Pooled it
- Propensity score matching in otolaryngologic literature: A systematic review and critical appraisal.PloS one · 2020Pooled it
- Trial
- Comparison of minimally invasive surgery and open surgery following chemotherapy for cStage IVb gastric cancer: a multicenter retrospective cohort study.Gastric cancer : official journal of the International Gastric Cancer Association and the Japanese Gastric Cancer Association · 2026Article
- Early matched comparison of a novel modular carina robotic platform and the da vinci system for robot-assisted radical prostatectomy.Journal of robotic surgery · 2026Article
- Association of Presepsis Statin Prescription With Kidney and Mortality Outcomes: Cause-Specific, Overlap-Weighted Analyses.Kidney medicine · 2026Article
- Kidney safety net utilization after liver transplant for acute alcohol-associated hepatitis.American journal of transplantation : official journal of the American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons · 2026Article
- Chronic hepatitis b coinfection and survival in pediatric T-ALL: A propensity-matched analysis.iScience · 2026Article
- Estimating covariate-balanced survival curve in distributed data environment using data collaboration quasi-experiment.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Comparative outcomes of conventional versus endoscopic-assisted surgery for breast phyllodes tumors: a single center retrospective cohort study.Translational breast cancer research : a journal focusing on translational research in breast cancer · 2026Article
- Article
- Assessing Covariate Balance With Small Sample Sizes.Statistics in medicine · 2025Article
- Assessing Covariate Balance with Small Sample Sizes.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- Association Between Delayed Broad-Spectrum Gram-negative Antibiotics and Clinical Outcomes: How Much Does Getting It Right With Empiric Antibiotics Matter?Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2025Article
- Defining Appropriate Comparator Populations for Placental Pathology for Pregnant People With HIV.International journal of surgical pathology · 2025Article
- Secukinumab Persistence in Patients with Psoriatic Arthritis: An Adalimumab-Matched Retrospective Cohort Database Study (FLYWAY).Rheumatology and therapy · 2025Article
- Outcomes in Patients With Pulmonary Embolism Treated With Mechanical Thrombectomy or Anticoagulation Alone.Journal of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions · 2025Article
- Polyamine Inhibition with DFMO: Shifting the Paradigm in Neuroblastoma Therapy.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Article
- Impact of discontinuing disease-modifying therapies on health care utilization among midlife patients with multiple sclerosis in the United States.Journal of managed care & specialty pharmacy · 2024Article
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
backgroundPropensity scores are widely used to deal with confounding bias in medical research. An incorrectly specified propensity score model may lead to residual confounding bias; therefore it is essential to use diagnostics to assess propensity scores in a propensity score analysis. The current use of propensity score diagnostics in the medical literature is unknown. The objectives of this study are to (1) assess the use of propensity score diagnostics in medical studies published in high-ranking journals, and (2) assess whether the use of propensity score diagnostics differs between studies (a) in different research areas and (b) using different propensity score methods.
methodsA PubMed search identified studies published in high-impact journals between Jan 1st 2014 and Dec 31st 2016 using propensity scores to answer an applied medical question. From each study we extracted information regarding how propensity scores were assessed and which propensity score method was used. Research area was defined using the journal categories from the Journal Citations Report.
resultsA total of 894 papers were included in the review. Of these, 187 (20.9%) failed to report whether the propensity score had been assessed. Commonly reported diagnostics were p-values from hypothesis tests (36.6%) and the standardised mean difference (34.6%). Statistical tests provided marginally stronger evidence for a difference in diagnostic use between studies in different research areas (p = 0.033) than studies using different propensity score methods (p = 0.061).
conclusionsThe use of diagnostics in the propensity score medical literature is far from optimal, with different diagnostics preferred in different areas of medicine. The propensity score literature may improve with focused efforts to change practice in areas where suboptimal practice is most common.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.