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image/svg+xml Jakob Voss, based on art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina and Beao Closed Access logo, derived from PLoS Open Access logo. This version with transparent background. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Closed_Access_logo_transparent.svg Jakob Voss, based on art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina and Beao Statistics in Medici...arrow_drop_down
image/svg+xml Jakob Voss, based on art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina and Beao Closed Access logo, derived from PLoS Open Access logo. This version with transparent background. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Closed_Access_logo_transparent.svg Jakob Voss, based on art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina and Beao
Statistics in Medicine
Article . 2021 . Peer-reviewed
License: Wiley Online Library User Agreement
Data sources: Crossref
image/svg+xml Jakob Voss, based on art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina and Beao Closed Access logo, derived from PLoS Open Access logo. This version with transparent background. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Closed_Access_logo_transparent.svg Jakob Voss, based on art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina and Beao
zbMATH Open
Article . 2021
Data sources: zbMATH Open
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Causal mediation analysis with latent subgroups

Authors: WenWu Wang; Jinfeng Xu; Joel Schwartz; Andrea Baccarelli; Zhonghua Liu;

Causal mediation analysis with latent subgroups

Abstract

In biomedical studies, the causal mediation effect might be heterogeneous across individuals in the study population due to each study subject's unique characteristics. While individuals' mediation effects may differ from each other, it is often reasonable and more interpretable to assume that individuals belong to several distinct latent subgroups with similar attributes. In this article, we first show that the subgroup‐specific mediation effect can be identified under the group‐specific sequential ignorability assumptions. Then, we propose a simple mixture modeling approach to account for the latent subgroup structure where each mixture component corresponds to one latent subgroup in the linear structural equation model framework. Model parameters can be estimated using the standard expectation‐maximization (EM) algorithm. Each individual's subgroup membership can be inferred based on the posterior probability. We propose to use the singular Bayesian information criterion to consistently select the number of latent subgroups by recognizing that the Fisher information matrix for mixture models might be singular. We then propose to use nonparametric bootstrap method to compute standard errors and confidence intervals. We conducted simulation studies to evaluate the empirical performance of our proposed method namediMed. Finally, we reanalyzed a DNA methylation data set from the Normative Aging Study and found that the mediation effects of two well‐documented DNA methylation CpG sites are heterogeneous across two latent subgroups in the causal pathway from smoking behavior to lung function. We also developed an R packageiMedfor public use.

Related Organizations
Keywords

mixture model, DNA methylation, Mediation Analysis, latent subgroups, Bayes Theorem, Applications of statistics to biology and medical sciences; meta analysis, Causality, singular Bayesian information criterion, Humans, Computer Simulation, heterogeneous mediation effects, EM algorithm, Probability

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selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
5
Top 10%
Average
Average
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