Assessing and addressing collider bias in addiction research: the curious case of smoking and COVID-19

Harry Tattan-Birch, John Marsden, Robert West, Suzanne H Gage, Harry Tattan-Birch, John Marsden, Robert West, Suzanne H Gage

No abstract available

Keywords: COVID-19; Causal inference; collider bias; confounding; selection bias; smoking.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Directed acyclic graph showing causal relationships between exposures, outcomes, and (a) confounders and (b) colliders
Figure 2
Figure 2
Simulated example showing the association between depressive symptoms and impulsivity (a) in the general population and (b) among people who use opioids. Opioid use is a collider, as it can be caused by depressive symptoms or impulsivity. Therefore, selecting a sample of opioid users produces a spurious negative association between depressive symptoms and impulsivity. [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

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Source: PubMed

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