The DOI matches its Crossref record; 99 of the 108 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Confounding and Collapsibility in Causal Inference
Open accessAbstract
Consideration of confounding is fundamental to the design and analysis of studies of causal effects. Yet, apart from confounding in experimental designs, the topic is given little or no discussion in most statistics texts. We here provide an overview of confounding and related concepts based on a counterfactual model for causation. Special attention is given to definitions of confounding, problems in control of confounding, the relation of confounding to exchangeability and collapsibility, and the importance of distinguishing confounding from noncollapsibility.
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“Both models account for potential biases and confounding factors [20, 21].”
From Health and Socio-Economic Impacts of Climate-Related Displacement in Bangladesh’s Chars: Causal Evidence From a Household Survey (2026) · cites this paper as [20]
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“The causal interpretation of the estimated treatment effects relies on the standard identification assumptions used in the program-evaluation literature [16, 20, 21].”
From Health and Socio-Economic Impacts of Climate-Related Displacement in Bangladesh’s Chars: Causal Evidence From a Household Survey (2026) · cites this paper as [20]
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Citations
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Matching Methods for Causal Inference: A Review and a Look Forward
Stuart, E. A. (2010) · Statistical Science · doi:10.1214/09-sts313 · Cited by 5,478
Mediation Analysis: A Practitioner's Guide
VanderWeele, T. J. (2016) · Annual Review of Public Health · doi:10.1146/annurev-publhealth-032315-021402 · Cited by 1,985
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BackgroundA review of instrumental variable estimators for Mendelian randomization
Burgess, S., Small, D. S., & Thompson, S. G. (2015) · Statistical Methods in Medical Research · doi:10.1177/0962280215597579 · Cited by 1,769
“Noncollapsibility is the violation of this property.(62) The relative risk and absolute risk difference are collapsible measures of association.”
BackgroundMoons, K. G. M., Wolff, R. F., Riley, R. D., Whiting, P. F., Westwood, M., Collins, G. S., Reitsma, J. B., Kleijnen, J., & Mallett, S. (2019) · Annals of Internal Medicine · doi:10.7326/m18-1377 · Cited by 1,669
Hernan, M. A. (2002) · American Journal of Epidemiology · doi:10.1093/aje/155.2.176 · Cited by 1,445
Metadata
- Authors
- Greenland, S., Pearl, J., & Robins, J. M.
- Venue
- Statistical Science
- Publisher
- Institute of Mathematical Statistics
- Published
- 1999-02-01
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 29-46
- ISSN
- 0883-4237 (ISSN-L)
- 2168-8745
- OpenAlex
- W1996016456
- Cited by
- 933
- References
- 108
- Citations by year
- 2026: 43 · 2025: 47 · 2024: 61 · 2023: 53 · 2022: 65 · 2021: 75 · 2020: 48 · 2019: 40 · 2018: 40 · 2017: 36 · 2016: 35 · 2015: 44 · 2014: 52 · 2013: 47 · 2012: 47
- FWCI
- 13.67
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Statistical Science (publishedVersion)
- Project Euclid (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Advanced Causal Inference Techniques
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Statistical Methods in Epidemiology
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Philosophy of Biology and Scientific Explanation
- Keywords
- confounding, collapsibility, counterfactual modeling, causal inference, exchangeability, causal effects, observational studies
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