The causal inference literature has provided a clear formal definition of confounding expressed in terms of counterfactual independence. The causal inference literature has not, however, produced a clear formal definition of a confounder, as it has given priority to the concept of confounding...

We construct an estimator of , based on a random sample of size n from a density f on the unit cube in . This estimator achieves the minimax rate for f known to belong to a multiple of the unit ball in a Hölder space of order [alpha], where [alpha]=d/4. We are mostly interested in the case that...

Abstract Mediation analysis is widely adopted to infer causal mechanism by disentangling indirect or mediated effects of an exposure on an outcome through given intermediaries, from the remaining direct effect. Traditional approaches build on standard regression models for the outcome and...

Abstract Recent advances in the causal inference literature on mediation have extended traditional approaches to direct and indirect effects to settings that allow for interactions and non-linearities. In this article, these approaches from causal inference are further extended to settings in...

Abstract Marginal Structural Models (MSMs), with the associated method of inverse probability weighting (IPW), have become increasingly popular in epidemiology to model and estimate the joint effects of a sequence of exposures. This popularity is largely related to the relative simplicity of the...

Abstract Objectives: The current study aims to estimate the causal effect of increasing levels of urbanisation on mean SBP, and to decompose the direct and indirect effects via hypothesised mediators. Methods: We analysed data from 5, 840 adults (≥ 18 years) from the Andhra Pradesh Children...

Abstract Decomposing an exposure effect on an outcome into separate natural indirect effects through multiple mediators requires strict assumptions, such as correctly postulating the causal structure of the mediators, and no unmeasured confounding among the mediators. In contrast, interventional...

Timely monitoring of the economic performance of a particular sector is generally hindered by the fact that not all companies have deposited their annual accounts by the time that an evaluation is made. In view of this, we develop several imputation strategies that each enable predicting a...