Starting right: aligning eligibility and treatment assignment at time zero when emulating a target trial
Open accessAbstract
This article provides methodological guidance when emulating a target trial with longitudinal observational data by showing how to align eligibility criteria and treatment assignment at the start of follow-up to prevent design induced biases, such as immortal time and selection bias.
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Cites
Robins, J. (1986) · Mathematical Modelling · doi:10.1016/0270-0255(86)90088-6 · Cited by 2,451 · see citing works
Lund, J. L., Richardson, D. B., & Stürmer, T. (2015) · Current Epidemiology Reports · doi:10.1007/s40471-015-0053-5 · Cited by 739 · see citing works
Per-Protocol Analyses of Pragmatic Trials
Hernán, M. A., & Robins, J. M. (2017) · New England Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1056/nejmsm1605385 · Cited by 660 · see citing works
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- Authors
- Fu, E. L., Harhay, M. O., Schneeweiss, S., Desai, R. J., & Hernán, M. A.
- Affiliations
- Brigham and Women's Hospital (US)
- University of Pennsylvania (US)
- CAUSALab and Departments of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
- Corresponding author
- Fu, Edouard L
- Venue
- BMJ
- Publisher
- BMJ
- Published
- 2026-01-12
- Volume
- 392
- Pages
- e084909
- ISSN
- 1756-1833 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W7123606495
- Cited by
- 42
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 40 · 2025: 2
- FWCI
- 209.22
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- www.bmj.com/company/legal-information/terms-conditions/legal-information/tdm-licencepolicy (tdm)
- Locations
- BMJ (publishedVersion)
- SSRN Electronic Journal (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Universiteit Leiden
- Nierstichting (22OK2026)
- Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
- National Institutes of Health (AI102634)
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (R01HL141505, R01HL168202)
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (R37AI102634)
- National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (R01AR080194)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Advanced Causal Inference Techniques
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Statistical Methods in Clinical Trials
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Statistical Methods in Epidemiology
- Keywords
- target trial emulation, eligibility criteria, treatment allocation, immortal time bias, selection bias, longitudinal observational data, causal inference
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