Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39805806›Full record

ReviewPharmacoepidemiology and drug safety2025

Core Concepts: Self-Controlled Designs in Pharmacoepidemiology.

Sophie H Bots, Jeremy Brown, Angel Y S Wong, Ivonne Martin, Ian Douglas, Olaf H Klungel, Anna Schultze

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
12citing papers in PubMed
–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

12 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
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  4. Effects of Opioids, Benzodiazepines, Gabapentinoids, and Antidepressants on Fracture Risk in Alcohol-Related Cirrhosis.Liver international : official journal of the International Association for the Study of the Liver · 2026
    Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Review
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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

7 authors.

Sophie H BotsDivision of Pharmacoepidemiology and Clinical Pharmacology, Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0002-4483-5582
Jeremy BrownDepartment of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
Angel Y S WongDepartment of Non-communicable Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-8618-7333
Ivonne MartinDepartment of Data Science and Biostatistics, Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands.
Ian DouglasDepartment of Non-communicable Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
Olaf H KlungelDivision of Pharmacoepidemiology and Clinical Pharmacology, Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands.
Anna SchultzeDepartment of Non-communicable Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

One of the key challenges in pharmacoepidemiological studies is that of uncontrolled confounding, which occurs when confounders are poorly measured, unmeasured or unknown. Self-controlled designs can help address this issue, as their key comparison is not between people, but periods of time within the same person. This controls for all time-stable confounders (genetics) and in the absence of time-varying confounding negates the need for an external control group. However, these benefits come at the cost of strong assumptions, not all of which are verifiable. This review briefly introduces the reader to different types of self-controlled study designs, their terminology and highlights key publications through an annotated reference list. We include a practical description of how these designs can be implemented and visualised using recent examples, and finish by discussing recent developments. We hope this review will serve as a starting point for researchers looking to apply self-controlled designs in their own work.

Indexed as

Epidemiologic Research DesignPharmacoepidemiologycase‐crossover designself‐controlled case seriesself‐controlled study designs

Identifiers

PMID39805806
PMCPMC11729261

What OpenQuestion holds

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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.