Estimating causal effects for survival (time-to-event) outcomes by combining classification tree analysis and propensity score weighting.

Journal: Journal of evaluation in clinical practice
Published Date:

Abstract

RATIONALE, AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: A common approach to assessing treatment effects in nonrandomized studies with time-to-event outcomes is to estimate propensity scores and compute weights using logistic regression, test for covariate balance, and then estimate treatment effects using Cox regression. A machine-learning alternative-classification tree analysis (CTA)-used to generate propensity scores and to estimate treatment effects in time-to-event data may identify complex relationships between covariates not found using conventional regression-based approaches.

Authors

  • Ariel Linden
    Linden Consulting Group, LLC, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
  • Paul R Yarnold
    Optimal Data Analysis, LLC, Chicago, IL, USA.