Estimation of a Semiparametric Natural Direct Effect Model Incorporating Baseline Covariates.

ABSTRACT: Establishing cause-effect relationships is a standard goal of empirical science. Once the presence of a causal relationship is established, the precise causal mechanism involved becomes a topic of interest. A particularly popular type of mechanism analysis concerns questions of mediation, that is to what extent an effect is direct, and to what extent it is mediated by a third variable. A semiparametric theory has recently been proposed which allows multiply robust estimation of direct and mediated marginal effect functionals in observational studies (Tchetgen Tchetgen & Shpitser, 2012). In this paper we extend the new theory to handle parametric models of natural direct and indirect effects within levels of pre-exposure variables with an identity or log link function, where the model for t

SUBMITTER: Tchetgen Tchetgen EJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4396536 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature