Epidemiologic analyses with error-prone exposures: review of current practice and recommendations

Measurement Error and Misclassification Topic Group (TG4) of the STRATOS Initiative

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

52 Scopus citations

Abstract

Purpose: Variables in observational studies are commonly subject to measurement error, but the impact of such errors is frequently ignored. As part of the STRengthening Analytical Thinking for Observational Studies Initiative, a task group on measurement error and misclassification seeks to describe the current practice for acknowledging and addressing measurement error. Methods: Task group on measurement error and misclassification conducted a literature survey of four types of research studies that are typically impacted by exposure measurement error: (1) dietary intake cohort studies, (2) dietary intake population surveys, (3) physical activity cohort studies, and (4) air pollution cohort studies. Results: The survey revealed that while researchers were generally aware that measurement error affected their studies, very few adjusted their analysis for the error. Most articles provided incomplete discussion of the potential effects of measurement error on their results. Regression calibration was the most widely used method of adjustment. Conclusions: Methods to correct for measurement error are available but require additional data regarding the error structure. There is a great need to incorporate such data collection within study designs and improve the analytical approach. Increased efforts by investigators, editors, and reviewers are needed to improve presentation of research when data are subject to error.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)821-828
Number of pages8
JournalAnnals of Epidemiology
Volume28
Issue number11
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2018
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Elsevier Inc.

Funding

The authors would like to thank Matthias Assenmacher, Andreas Hueck, Thomas Maierhofer, Nathan Huey at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität for their assistance with the article reviews, Julie Herbinger for initial article screening, and Mingh Anh Le for a pilot study for the air pollution cohort study literature survey. R.H.K. is supported by a Medical Research Council Fellowship ( MR/M014827/1 ). J.A.T. is supported in part by National Cancer Institute Cancer center Support Grant P30 CA012197 .

FundersFunder number
National Cancer InstituteP30CA012197
Medical Research CouncilMR/M014827/1

    Keywords

    • Air pollution
    • Cohort studies
    • Measurement error
    • Misclassification
    • Nutritional epidemiology
    • Physical activity

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