Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39908720›Full record

ArticleVaccine2025

Exploring bias due to below-limit-of-detection values in influenza vaccine antibody modeling: A case study and instructional guide for the CIVIC study.

Yang Ge, Andreas Handel, Philippe J Giabbanelli, Jennifer Lemacks, Tammy Greer, Pooja Raynee, Justin Bahl, Amanda L Skarlupka, Kevin K Dobbin, Ted M Ross and 1 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Vaccine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–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

1 citing paper in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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

11 authors.

Yang GeCollege of Public Health, The University of Georgia, Athens 30606, GA, USA.
Andreas HandelCollege of Public Health, The University of Georgia, Athens 30606, GA, USA; Center for the Ecology of Infectious Diseases, The University of Georgia, Athens 30606, GA, USA.
Philippe J GiabbanelliVirginia Modeling, Analysis, and Simulation Center (VMASC), Old Dominion University, Suffolk 23435, VA, USA.
Jennifer LemacksSchool of Health Professions, The University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg 39402, MS, USA.
Tammy GreerSchool of Psychology, The University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg 39402, MS, USA.
Pooja RayneeSchool of Health Professions, The University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg 39402, MS, USA.
Justin BahlCollege of Public Health, The University of Georgia, Athens 30606, GA, USA; Department of Infectious Diseases and Institute of Bioinformatics, The University of Georgia, Athens 30606, GA, USA.
Amanda L SkarlupkaNational Cancer Institute, Bethesda 20814, MD, USA.
Kevin K DobbinSchool of Public Health, Augusta University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA.
Ted M RossCleveland Clinic Florida, Port St. Lucie 34952, FL, USA; Center for Vaccines and Immunology, The University of Georgia, Athens 30606, GA, USA.
Ye ShenCollege of Public Health, The University of Georgia, Athens 30606, GA, USA. Electronic address: yeshen@uga.edu.

Funding

COVID Supplement - COMPONENT A OF THE COLLABORATIVE INFLUENZA VACCINE INNOVATION CENTERS (CIVICS) PROGRAM TO DESIGN AND EVALUATE INNOVATIVE INFLUENZA VACCINE APPROACHES,75N93019C00052 · NIAID · UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA · PI ROSS, TED · 2019 to 2025
$74.6M
NIAID Centers of Excellence for Influenza Research and Response: Universal Influenza Vaccine Research Activities75N93021C00018 · NIAID · UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA · PI TOMPKINS, S. MARK · 2021 to 2025
$21.6M
Drivers of individual variation in influenza vaccine response and protection from infectionR01AI170116 · NIAID · UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO · PI Sarah Cobey, John S Tsang · 2022 to 2026
$7.2M
DYNAMICS AND EVOLUTION OF IMMUNE RESPONSES TO INFLUENZA VIRUSESU01AI150747 · NIAID · EMORY UNIVERSITY · PI AHMED, RAFI, ANTIA, RUSTOM NOSHIR · 2020 to 2024
$5.9M
Refining Predictive Models for Neglected and Emerging Infectious DiseasesR35GM146612 · NIGMS · UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA · PI Ye Shen · 2022 to 2026
$1.9M
NIAID NIH HHS 75N93019C00052NIAID NIH HHS 75N93021C00018NIAID NIH HHS R01 AI170116NIAID NIH HHS U01 AI150747NIGMS NIH HHS R35 GM146612
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

In many laboratory assay datasets, missing values due to a limit of detection (LOD) are not uncommon. We observed this issue in our CIVIC-UGAFLUVAC hemagglutination inhibition assay (HAI) dataset. The standard imputation method recodes these values as either equal to the LOD or LOD/2. However, ignoring censoring can lead to falsely significant results in research. In this study, we explored the bias in modeling vaccine HAI titer increase. Moreover, we modified the titer increase modeling within the interval censoring framework to adjust for bias in parameter estimates. Our method provided less biased results compared to the standard imputation method. We anticipate that this study will serve as a case study and instructional guide for future vaccine research.

Indexed as

Antibodies, ViralInfluenza, HumanInfluenza VaccinesBiasHemagglutination Inhibition TestsHumansLimit of DetectionAntibodies, ViralInfluenza VaccinesHAIInfluenzaLimit of detectionLODVaccine

Identifiers

PMID39908720
PMCPMC11875013

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
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.