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2024 · Review · eLife

Misstatements, misperceptions, and mistakes in controlling for covariates in observational research

Xiaoxin Yu; Roger S Zoh; David A Fluharty; Luis M Mestre; Danny Valdez; Carmen D Tekwe; Colby J Vorland; Yasaman Jamshidi-Naeini; Sy Han Chiou; Stella T Lartey; David B Allison

Explains twelve recurring mistakes and misconceptions about covariate adjustment, measurement error, confounding, and interpretation in observational research.

Open access
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Open-science resources

Resource verification & source notes
  • Free full text (PMC): The complete article body was retrieved from the public NCBI PMC JATS endpoint. This confirms free access; reuse permissions depend on the individual article license.

Publication details

Publication date
2024-05-16
Journal or venue
eLife
Volume
13
DOI
10.7554/elife.82268
PMID
38752987
PMCID
PMC11098558
Language
en
Output type
Review

Research themes

Statistical rigorNutrition & aging

nutrition · epidemiology

Author affiliations & identifiers
  • Xiaoxin Yu: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, Bloomington, United States. · ORCID 0000-0002-3679-2455
  • Roger S Zoh: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, Bloomington, United States. · ORCID 0000-0002-8066-1153
  • David A Fluharty: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, Bloomington, United States.
  • Luis M Mestre: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, Bloomington, United States.
  • Danny Valdez: Department of Applied Health Science, Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, Bloomington, United States.
  • Carmen D Tekwe: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, Bloomington, United States.
  • Colby J Vorland: Department of Applied Health Science, Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, Bloomington, United States. · ORCID 0000-0003-4225-372X
  • Yasaman Jamshidi-Naeini: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, Bloomington, United States.
  • Sy Han Chiou: Department of Statistics and Data Science, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, United States.
  • Stella T Lartey: University of Memphis, School of Public Health, Memphis, United Kingdom.
  • David B Allison: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, Bloomington, United States.
Source notes
  • CV abbreviates the ordered author list with ellipses; replace with complete authoritative list before displaying full authors.

Metadata sources: PubMed, OpenAlex, CV, Google Scholar. Classification is an editorial interpretation of the title, abstract, and supplied CV.