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Main Authors: Xie, Feng, Yao, Zhen, Xie, Lin, Zeng, Yan, Geng, Zhi
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.07933
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author Xie, Feng
Yao, Zhen
Xie, Lin
Zeng, Yan
Geng, Zhi
author_facet Xie, Feng
Yao, Zhen
Xie, Lin
Zeng, Yan
Geng, Zhi
contents We consider the challenging problem of estimating causal effects from purely observational data in the bi-directional Mendelian randomization (MR), where some invalid instruments, as well as unmeasured confounding, usually exist. To address this problem, most existing methods attempt to find proper valid instrumental variables (IVs) for the target causal effect by expert knowledge or by assuming that the causal model is a one-directional MR model. As such, in this paper, we first theoretically investigate the identification of the bi-directional MR from observational data. In particular, we provide necessary and sufficient conditions under which valid IV sets are correctly identified such that the bi-directional MR model is identifiable, including the causal directions of a pair of phenotypes (i.e., the treatment and outcome). Moreover, based on the identification theory, we develop a cluster fusion-like method to discover valid IV sets and estimate the causal effects of interest. We theoretically demonstrate the correctness of the proposed algorithm. Experimental results show the effectiveness of our method for estimating causal effects in bi-directional MR.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2407_07933
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Identification and Estimation of the Bi-Directional MR with Some Invalid Instruments
Xie, Feng
Yao, Zhen
Xie, Lin
Zeng, Yan
Geng, Zhi
Methodology
Machine Learning
We consider the challenging problem of estimating causal effects from purely observational data in the bi-directional Mendelian randomization (MR), where some invalid instruments, as well as unmeasured confounding, usually exist. To address this problem, most existing methods attempt to find proper valid instrumental variables (IVs) for the target causal effect by expert knowledge or by assuming that the causal model is a one-directional MR model. As such, in this paper, we first theoretically investigate the identification of the bi-directional MR from observational data. In particular, we provide necessary and sufficient conditions under which valid IV sets are correctly identified such that the bi-directional MR model is identifiable, including the causal directions of a pair of phenotypes (i.e., the treatment and outcome). Moreover, based on the identification theory, we develop a cluster fusion-like method to discover valid IV sets and estimate the causal effects of interest. We theoretically demonstrate the correctness of the proposed algorithm. Experimental results show the effectiveness of our method for estimating causal effects in bi-directional MR.
title Identification and Estimation of the Bi-Directional MR with Some Invalid Instruments
topic Methodology
Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.07933