A Selective Review of Negative Control Methods in Epidemiology

TL;DR

This paper reviews negative control methods in epidemiology, highlighting their potential for bias detection and correction, and provides guidance on their principled application and recent methodological advances.

Contribution

It offers a comprehensive overview of negative control techniques, formal frameworks, and recent developments for causal inference in epidemiology.

Findings

Summarizes causal and statistical assumptions for negative controls.

Reviews strategies for bias detection and correction.

Discusses recent advances in nonparametric causal effect identification.

Abstract

Purpose of Review: Negative controls are a powerful tool to detect and adjust for bias in epidemiological research. This paper introduces negative controls to a broader audience and provides guidance on principled design and causal analysis based on a formal negative control framework. Recent Findings: We review and summarize causal and statistical assumptions, practical strategies, and validation criteria that can be combined with subject matter knowledge to perform negative control analyses. We also review existing statistical methodologies for detection, reduction, and correction of confounding bias, and briefly discuss recent advances towards nonparametric identification of causal effects in a double negative control design. Summary: There is great potential for valid and accurate causal inference leveraging contemporary healthcare data in which negative controls are routinely available. Design and analysis of observational data leveraging negative controls is an area of growing interest in health and social sciences. Despite these developments, further effort is needed to disseminate these novel methods to ensure they are adopted by practicing epidemiologists.