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Confounding is a causal concept, and as such, cannot be described in terms of correlations or associations. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] The existence of confounders is an important quantitative explanation why correlation does not imply causation .
In other cases, controlling for a non-confounding variable may cause underestimation of the true causal effect of the explanatory variables on an outcome (e.g. when controlling for a mediator or its descendant). [2] [3] Counterfactual reasoning mitigates the influence of confounders without this drawback. [3]
There are different ways that blocking can be implemented, resulting in different confounding effects. However, the different methods share the same purpose: to control variability introduced by specific factors that could influence the outcome of an experiment.
Confounding occurs when an unmeasured or unaccounted variable influences both the exposure and the outcome, creating a false appearance of a causal relationship. For example, in studies linking smoking to higher rates of suicide, the hypothesis arose because smokers were disproportionately represented among suicide cases.
Graphical model: Whereas a mediator is a factor in the causal chain (top), a confounder is a spurious factor incorrectly implying causation (bottom). In statistics, a spurious relationship or spurious correlation [1] [2] is a mathematical relationship in which two or more events or variables are associated but not causally related, due to either coincidence or the presence of a certain third ...
The stronger the confounding of treatment and covariates, and hence the stronger the bias in the analysis of the naive treatment effect, the better the covariates predict whether a unit is treated or not. By having units with similar propensity scores in both treatment and control, such confounding is reduced.
This research opens up the door for developing certain treatments for osteoarthritis. ... Furthermore, here may have been confounding regarding the results for quantified bone loss. This is ...
Random assignment, blinding, and controlling are key aspects of the design of experiments because they help ensure that the results are not spurious or deceptive via confounding. This is why randomized controlled trials are vital in clinical research, especially ones that can be double-blinded and placebo-controlled.