Causal and Associational Language in Observational Health Research: A Systematic Evaluation.

We estimated the degree to which language used in the high-profile medical/public health/epidemiology literature implied causality using language linking exposures to outcomes and action recommendations; examined disconnects between language and recommendations; identified the most common linking phrases; and estimated how strongly linking phrases imply causality. We searched for and screened 1,170 articles from 18 high-profile journals (65 per journal) published from 2010-2019. Based on written framing and systematic guidance, 3 reviewers rated the degree of causality implied in abstracts and full text for exposure/outcome linking language and action recommendations.

DAG With Omitted Objects Displayed (DAGWOOD): a framework for revealing causal assumptions in DAGs.

Directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) are frequently used in epidemiology as a method to encode causal inference assumptions. We propose the DAGWOOD framework to bring many of those encoded assumptions to the forefront. DAGWOOD combines a root DAG (the DAG in the proposed analysis) and a set of branch DAGs (alternative hidden assumptions to the root DAG).

Problems with evidence assessment in COVID-19 health policy impact evaluation: a systematic review of study design and evidence strength.

Introduction: Assessing the impact of COVID-19 policy is critical for informing future policies. However, there are concerns about the overall strength of COVID-19 impact evaluation studies given the circumstances for evaluation and concerns about the publication environment.

Methods: We included studies that were primarily designed to estimate the quantitative impact of one or more implemented COVID-19 policies on direct SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 outcomes.

Association between convalescent plasma treatment and mortality in COVID-19: a collaborative systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials.

Background: Convalescent plasma has been widely used to treat COVID-19 and is under investigation in numerous randomized clinical trials, but results are publicly available only for a small number of trials. The objective of this study was to assess the benefits of convalescent plasma treatment compared to placebo or no treatment and all-cause mortality in patients with COVID-19, using data from all available randomized clinical trials, including unpublished and ongoing trials (Open Science Framework, https://doi.org/10.

Much ado about something: a response to "COVID-19: underpowered randomised trials, or no randomised trials?".

Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPI) for infectious diseases such as COVID-19 are particularly challenging given the complexities of what is both practical and ethical to randomize. We are often faced with the difficult decision between having weak trials or not having a trial at all. In a recent article, Dr.

Association of Convalescent Plasma Treatment With Clinical Outcomes in Patients With COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Importance: Convalescent plasma is a proposed treatment for COVID-19.

Objective: To assess clinical outcomes with convalescent plasma treatment vs placebo or standard of care in peer-reviewed and preprint publications or press releases of randomized clinical trials (RCTs).

Data Sources: PubMed, the Cochrane COVID-19 trial registry, and the Living Overview of Evidence platform were searched until January 29, 2021.

Problems with Evidence Assessment in COVID-19 Health Policy Impact Evaluation: A systematic review of study design and evidence strength.

Introduction: Assessing the impact of COVID-19 policy is critical for informing future policies. However, there are concerns about the overall strength of COVID-19 impact evaluation studies given the circumstances for evaluation and concerns about the publication environment. This study systematically reviewed the strength of evidence in the published COVID-19 policy impact evaluation literature.

The worldwide clinical trial research response to the COVID-19 pandemic - the first 100 days.

: Never before have clinical trials drawn as much public attention as those testing interventions for COVID-19. We aimed to describe the worldwide COVID-19 clinical research response and its evolution over the first 100 days of the pandemic. Descriptive analysis of planned, ongoing or completed trials by April 9, 2020 testing any intervention to treat or prevent COVID-19, systematically identified in trial registries, preprint servers, and literature databases.

HIV self-testing among young women in rural South Africa: A randomized controlled trial comparing clinic-based HIV testing to the choice of either clinic testing or HIV self-testing with secondary distribution to peers and partners.

Background: HIV testing rates in many hyper-endemic areas are lower than needed to curtail the HIV epidemic. New HIV testing strategies are needed to overcome barriers to traditional clinic based testing; HIV self-testing is one modality that offers promise in reaching individuals who experience barriers to clinic-based testing.

Methods: We conducted a randomized control trial among young women ages 18-26 living in rural Mpumalanga, South Africa where they were randomized in a 1:1 allocation to either the: (1) HIV Counseling and Testing (HCT) arm: an invitation to test at one of the 9 local government clinics where free HCT is provided and is standard of care (SOC), or (2) choice arm: choice of either a clinic-based HCT invitation or oral HIV Self-Testing (HIVST) kits.

HIV Care Continuum and Meeting 90-90-90 Targets: Cascade of Care Analyses of a U.S. Military Cohort.

Introduction: The new initiative by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) aims to decrease new HIV infections in the U.S. by 75% within 5 years and 90% within 10 years.

Limitations of the UNAIDS 90-90-90 metrics: a simulation-based comparison of cross-sectional and longitudinal metrics for the HIV care continuum.

Objectives: The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) 90-90-90 and other cross-sectional metrics can lead to potentially counterintuitive conclusions when used to evaluate health systems' performance. This study demonstrates how time and population dynamics impact UNAIDS 90-90-90 metrics in comparison with a longitudinal analogue.

Design: A simplified simulation representing a hypothetical population was used to estimate and compare inference from UNAIDS 90-90-90 metrics and longitudinal metrics based on Kaplan-Meier-estimated 2-year probability of transition between stages.

Correction to: Malaria control across borders: quasi-experimental evidence from the Trans-Kunene malaria initiative (TKMI).

Following publication of the original article [1], the authors flagged an error in Addition file 6.

Malaria control across borders: quasi-experimental evidence from the Trans-Kunene malaria initiative (TKMI).

Background: The transmission of malaria through population inflows from highly endemic areas with limited control efforts poses major challenges for national malaria control programmes. Several multilateral programmes have been launched in recent years to address cross-border transmission. This study assesses the potential impact of such a programme at the Angolan-Namibian border.

List randomization for eliciting HIV status and sexual behaviors in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: a randomized experiment using known true values for validation.

Background: List randomization (LR), a survey method intended to mitigate biases related to sensitive true/false questions, has received recent attention from researchers. However, tests of its validity are limited, with no study comparing LR-elicited results with individually known truths. We conducted a test of LR for HIV-related responses in a high HIV prevalence setting in KwaZulu-Natal.

Quasi-experimental study designs series-paper 7: assessing the assumptions.

Quasi-experimental designs are gaining popularity in epidemiology and health systems research-in particular for the evaluation of health care practice, programs, and policy-because they allow strong causal inferences without randomized controlled experiments. We describe the concepts underlying five important quasi-experimental designs: Instrumental Variables, Regression Discontinuity, Interrupted Time Series, Fixed Effects, and Difference-in-Differences designs. We illustrate each of the designs with an example from health research.

From HIV infection to therapeutic response: a population-based longitudinal HIV cascade-of-care study in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Background: Standard approaches to estimation of losses in the HIV cascade of care are typically cross-sectional and do not include the population stages before linkage to clinical care. We used indiviual-level longitudinal cascade data, transition by transition, including population stages, both to identify the health-system losses in the cascade and to show the differences in inference between standard methods and the longitudinal approach.

Methods: We used non-parametric survival analysis to estimate a longitudinal HIV care cascade for a large population of people with HIV residing in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Mass HIV Treatment and Sex Disparities in Life Expectancy: Demographic Surveillance in Rural South Africa.

Background: Women have better patient outcomes in HIV care and treatment than men in sub-Saharan Africa. We assessed--at the population level--whether and to what extent mass HIV treatment is associated with changes in sex disparities in adult life expectancy, a summary metric of survival capturing mortality across the full cascade of HIV care. We also determined sex-specific trends in HIV mortality and the distribution of HIV-related deaths in men and women prior to and at each stage of the clinical cascade.

Constructing the cascade of HIV care: methods for measurement.

Purpose Of Review: Although the concept of the HIV treatment cascade has reached nearly ubiquitous acceptance in international HIV policy and research, methods for estimating it vary drastically. These variations become increasingly important as the focus of the HIV response shifts from emergency response to long-term outcomes and financial and organizational sustainability. We review the history of the cascade and the current literature and develop the first comprehensive typology of cascade scope and methods.

Cardiometabolic consequences of therapy for chronic schizophrenia using second-generation antipsychotic agents in a medicaid population: clinical and economic evaluation.

Objective: We assessed the potential clinical and economic impact of coronary heart disease (CHD) and diabetes arising after the use of second-generation ("atypical") antipsychotic agents for the treatment of chronic schizophrenia. We compared the use of these medications in patients with a higher risk of cardiometabolic adverse events (in a higher-risk scenario) and in patients with a lower risk (in a lower-risk scenario). Our U.