On estimating causal controlled direct and mediator effects for count outcomes without assuming sequential ignorability

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new method for causal mediation analysis of count outcomes that accounts for unmeasured confounding and uses a multiplicative structural mean model, applicable to health studies like alcohol interventions.

Contribution

It develops a novel mediation analysis approach on a rate ratio scale that relaxes the no unmeasured confounding assumption, suitable for skewed count data.

Findings

The new method performs well in simulations compared to traditional models.

Application to an alcohol intervention confirms the intervention reduces drinking via normative perceptions.

The approach provides more accurate mediation estimates in the presence of confounders.

Abstract

Causal mediation analysis is an important statistical method in social and medical studies, as it can provide insights about why an intervention works and inform the development of future interventions. Currently, most causal mediation methods focus on mediation effects defined on a mean scale. However, in health-risk studies, such as alcohol or risky sex, outcomes are typically count data and heavily skewed. Thus, mediation effects in these setting would be natural on a rate ratio scale, such as in Poisson and negative binomial regression methods. Existing methods also mainly rely on the assumption of no unmeasured confounding between mediator and outcome. To allow for potential confounders between the mediator and outcome, we define the direct and mediator effects on a new scale and propose a multiplicative structural mean model for mediation analysis with count outcomes. The estimator is compared with both Poisson and negative binomial regression methods assuming sequential ignorability using a simulation study and a real world example about an alcohol-related intervention study. Mediation analyses using the new methods confirm the study hypothesis that the intervention decreases drinking by decreasing individual's normative perceptions of alcohol use.