ArticleBMC medical research methodology2020
A novel framework for classification of selection processes in epidemiological research.
Article 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 5 papers.
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.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Polygenic risk score and 20-year prostate cancer-specific mortality and survival.Communications medicine · 2026Article
- Time-varying associations between diabetes and mortality following COVID-19: Evidence from a U.S. Veteran population.PloS one · 2025Article
- Ice cleat distribution programmes and ice cleat use among older adults: repeated cross-sectional evidence from 63 municipal interventions in Sweden.Injury prevention : journal of the International Society for Child and Adolescent Injury Prevention · 2022Article
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Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundSelection and selection bias are terms that lack consistent definitions and have varying meaning and usage across disciplines. There is also confusion in current definitions between underlying mechanisms that lead to selection and their consequences. Consequences of selection on study validity must be judged on a case-by-case basis depending on research question, study design and analytical decisions. The overall aim of the study was to develop a simple but general framework for classifying various types of selection processes of relevance for epidemiological research.
methodsSeveral original articles from the epidemiological literature and from related areas of observational research were reviewed in search of examples of selection processes, used terminology and description of the underlying mechanisms.
resultsWe classified the identified selection processes in three dimensions: i) selection level (selection at the population level vs. study-specific selection), ii) type of mechanism (selection in exposure vs. selection in population composition), iii) timing of the selection (at exposure entry, during exposure/follow-up or post-outcome).
conclusionsIncreased understanding of when, how, and why selection occur is an important step towards improved validity of epidemiological research.
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