Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33826685›Full record

ArticleVaccine: X2019

Use of self-reported vaccination status can bias vaccine effectiveness estimates from test-negative studies.

Michael L Jackson

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Vaccine: X, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
14citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
1.3field-weighted citation impact, top 19% of its field
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

14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 24 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.

Michael L JacksonKaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute, Seattle, WA, United States.
Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionA number of national/multi-national networks provide annual estimates of influenza vaccine effectiveness (VE) based on the test-negative design. Most of these networks use subject self-reports to define influenza vaccination history. In this study, we used simulations to estimate the degree to which self-reported vaccination status can bias test-negative VE estimates.

methodsWe simulated a population whose members are at risk for acute respiratory illness (ARI) due to influenza and for ARI due to other respiratory pathogens. Vaccination was assumed to reduce the risk of influenza but not of non-influenza ARI. We simulated a range of possible values for VE and for vaccine coverage. Across simulations, we varied the sensitivity and specificity of self-reported vaccination status relative to true vaccination. We estimated bias as the percent difference in VE in the presence of misclassification relative to true simulated VE.

resultsAssuming self-report has sensitivity of 95% and specificity of 90%, estimated VE underestimated true VE by 16% (95% confidence interval, 4-30%). Decreasing specificity of self-reports resulted in greater bias than decreasing sensitivity of self-reports. Bias also increased as vaccine coverage decreased.

conclusionsThe use of self-reported influenza vaccination history can meaningfully bias influenza VE in test-negative studies. Researchers using test-negative designs should attempt to supplement or validate self-reported vaccination history using additional data sources.

Indexed as

Bias (epidemiology)HumanInfluenzaMethodologyVaccine effectiveness

Identifiers

PMID33826685
PMCPMC6668222
OpenAlexW2908044974

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.