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Main Authors: Tong, Jiaqi, Kahan, Brennan, Harhay, Michael O., Li, Fan
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.17514
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author Tong, Jiaqi
Kahan, Brennan
Harhay, Michael O.
Li, Fan
author_facet Tong, Jiaqi
Kahan, Brennan
Harhay, Michael O.
Li, Fan
contents Intercurrent events, common in clinical trials and observational studies, affect the existence or interpretation of final outcomes. Principal stratification addresses this challenge by defining local average treatment effect estimands within subpopulations, but often relies on restrictive assumptions such as monotonicity and counterfactual intermediate independence. To overcome these limitations, we propose a semiparametric framework for principal stratification analysis leveraging a margin-free, conditional odds ratio sensitivity parameter. Under principal ignorability, we derive nonparametric identification formulas and efficient estimation methods, including a conditionally doubly robust parametric estimator and a debiased machine learning estimator with data-adaptive nuisance learners. Our simulations show that incorrectly assuming monotonicity can frequently lead to biased inference, but incorrectly assuming non-monotonicity when monotonicity holds may maintain approximately valid inference. We demonstrate our methods in the context of a critical care trial, where monotonicity is unlikely to be valid.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2501_17514
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Semiparametric principal stratification analysis beyond monotonicity
Tong, Jiaqi
Kahan, Brennan
Harhay, Michael O.
Li, Fan
Methodology
Intercurrent events, common in clinical trials and observational studies, affect the existence or interpretation of final outcomes. Principal stratification addresses this challenge by defining local average treatment effect estimands within subpopulations, but often relies on restrictive assumptions such as monotonicity and counterfactual intermediate independence. To overcome these limitations, we propose a semiparametric framework for principal stratification analysis leveraging a margin-free, conditional odds ratio sensitivity parameter. Under principal ignorability, we derive nonparametric identification formulas and efficient estimation methods, including a conditionally doubly robust parametric estimator and a debiased machine learning estimator with data-adaptive nuisance learners. Our simulations show that incorrectly assuming monotonicity can frequently lead to biased inference, but incorrectly assuming non-monotonicity when monotonicity holds may maintain approximately valid inference. We demonstrate our methods in the context of a critical care trial, where monotonicity is unlikely to be valid.
title Semiparametric principal stratification analysis beyond monotonicity
topic Methodology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.17514