“ Propensity matching ” in medical research : Definitely, not made in Heaven !

It is likely, that the biggest Impact & influence in current medical research may not come from the IQ of our scientists, their concepts, or the sophistication of the laboratory. Then what? Can you guess? It is the man-made mathematic sub-specality called statistics. We are going to either ratify or reject any research work ( on which we toil) based on the quality of numbers we generate. Such is the critical value of this specialty. Just pause a moment, and think over. How much importance do we give to the credibility and “quality of the interpretation” of any study? We have conveniently left it to our esteemed mathematical colleagues and some other invisible forces for a proxy inference. I don’t think we will ever find an answer for this. Whether facts are made by statistics or statistics are made by facts ? In recent times, one technique called propensity matching and scoring is used to conduct medical research where multiple covariables and confounders play. What does the word propensity mean? Oxford defines this word /prəˈpɛnsət̮i/  (pl. propensities) (formal)  a tendency toward a particular kind of behavior What is propensity matching in medical research? In simple terms, it is doing a study without a true control group. It is a statistical gimmick where in we create an Imaginary or virtual patient arm What a way to conduct a scientific study? Those days, if someone suggests a study without a true co...
Source: Dr.S.Venkatesan MD - Category: Cardiology Authors: Tags: Uncategorized propensity matching propensity score statistics Source Type: blogs