2023/05/22 by Mollie E. Wood, Wood, Mollie E., Chase D. Latour +3
Medicine · #Applications (stat.AP) #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum #Methodology (stat.ME) #Pregnancy and Medication Impact #Pregnancy and preeclampsia studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2305.13540
openalex publication_date 2023/05/22 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
As a solution to methodologic challenges inherent to estimating causal effects of exposures in early pregnancy, we suggest emulating a target trial using a treatment decision design, wherein time zero is centered around clinical landmarks where treatment decisions may occur, such as the date of preconception counseling or prenatal care initiation. These ideas are illustrated via protocols for two target trials in large administrative databases, antidepressant use for pre-existing depressive disorder and antihypertensive medication use for mild-to-moderate chronic hypertension. Careful consideration of these issues is critical to the identification of the causal effects of early-pregnancy pharmacotherapies on pregnancy outcomes.