Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Language

English

Publication Date

5-16-2024

Journal

eLife

DOI

10.7554/eLife.82268

PMID

38752987

PMCID

PMC11098558

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

5-16-2024

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Post-print

Abstract

We discuss 12 misperceptions, misstatements, or mistakes concerning the use of covariates in observational or nonrandomized research. Additionally, we offer advice to help investigators, editors, reviewers, and readers make more informed decisions about conducting and interpreting research where the influence of covariates may be at issue. We primarily address misperceptions in the context of statistical management of the covariates through various forms of modeling, although we also emphasize design and model or variable selection. Other approaches to addressing the effects of covariates, including matching, have logical extensions from what we discuss here but are not dwelled upon heavily. The misperceptions, misstatements, or mistakes we discuss include accurate representation of covariates, effects of measurement error, overreliance on covariate categorization, underestimation of power loss when controlling for covariates, misinterpretation of significance in statistical models, and misconceptions about confounding variables, selecting on a collider, and p value interpretations in covariate-inclusive analyses. This condensed overview serves to correct common errors and improve research quality in general and in nutrition research specifically.

Keywords

Humans, Observational Studies as Topic, Research Design, Models, Statistical, Data Interpretation, Statistical

Published Open-Access

yes

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