Simulations and directed acyclic graphs explained why assortative mating biases the prenatal negative control design

The negative control design can be used to provide evidence for whether a prenatal exposure-outcome association occurs by in-utero mechanisms. Assortative mating has been suggested to influence results from negative control designs, though how and why has not yet been adequately explained. We aimed to explain why mutual adjustment of maternal and paternal exposure in regression models can account for assortative mating.

Source: Journal of Clinical Epidemiology - November 1, 2019 Category: Epidemiology Authors: Paul Madley-Dowd, Dheeraj Rai, Stanley Zammit, Jon Heron Tags: Original Article Source Type: research