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Article of the Month: Immortal-Time Bias in Urological Research

Every Month the Editor-in-Chief selects an Article of the Month from the current issue of BJUI. The abstract is reproduced below and you can click on the button to read the full article, which is freely available to all readers for at least 30 days from the time of this post.

In addition to the article itself, there is an accompanying editorial written by a prominent member of the urological community. This blog is intended to provoke comment and discussion and we invite you to use the comment tools at the bottom of each post to join the conversation.

Finally, the third post under the Article of the Week heading on the homepage will consist of additional material or media. This week we feature a video discussing the paper.

If you only have time to read one article this week, it should be this one.

Estimating the effect of immortal-time bias in urological research: a case example of testosterone-replacement therapy

 

Christopher J.D. Wallis*Rek Saskin†‡, Steven A. Narod§, Calvin Law, Girish S. Kulkarni† **, Arun Seth†† and Robert K. Nam*

 

*Division of Urology, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Institute for Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, Institute of Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, §Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto, Division of General Surgery, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, **Division of Urology, University Health Network, University of Toronto, and ††Department of Anatomic Pathology, Platform Biological Sciences, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada

 

Abstract

Objective

To quantify the effect of immortal-time bias in an observational study examining the effect of cumulative testosterone exposure on mortality.

Patients and Methods

We used a population-based matched cohort study of men aged ≥66 years, newly treated with testosterone-replacement therapy (TRT), and matched-controls from 2007 to 2012 in Ontario, Canada to quantify the effects of immortal-time bias. We used generalised estimating equations to determine the association between cumulative TRT exposure and mortality. Results produced by models using time-fixed and time-varying exposures were compared. Further, we undertook a systematic review of PubMed to identify studies addressing immortal-time bias or time-varying exposures in the urological literature and qualitatively summated these.

Results

Among 10 311 TRT-exposed men and 28 029 controls, the use of a time-varying exposure resulted in the attenuation of treatment effects compared with an analysis that did not account for immortal-time bias. While both analyses showed a decreased risk of death for patients in the highest tertile of TRT exposure, the effect was overestimated when using a time-fixed analysis (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 0.56, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.52–0.61) when compared to a time-varying analysis (aHR 0.67, 95% CI: 0.62–0.73). Of the 1 241 studies employing survival analysis identified in the literature, nine manuscripts met criteria for inclusion. Of these, five used a time-varying analytical method. Each of these was a large, population-based retrospective cohort study assessing potential harms of pharmacological agents.

Conclusions

Where exposures vary over time, a time-varying exposure is necessary to draw meaningful conclusions. Failure to use a time-varying analysis will result in overestimation of a beneficial effect. However, time-varying exposures are uncommonly utilised among manuscripts published in prominent urological journals.

Editorial: Immortal-Time Bias – A Crucial Yet Overlooked Confounder in Urological Research

The measurement of treatment effect through observational studies has become commonplace in the medical literature. These cohort studies provide valuable data on outcomes that can be difficult to assess in randomized controlled trials, such as long-term mortality. Accurate interpretation of observational data, however, requires accounting for potential confounders of study design, including the immortal-time bias. In this issue of BJUI, Wallis et al. [1] show how accounting for this bias can influence the measured effect of cumulative testosterone exposure on mortality. The implications of their findings extend to several other studies, whose designs may also be subject to immortal-time bias.

‘Immortal time’ refers to the portion of a follow-up period during which an outcome could not have occurred (e.g. subjects in the ‘exposure group’ cannot die before they receive the exposure); thus, potentially allowing the artificial magnification of an effect on the study outcome [2]. As the authors point out, this concept is not new. It was first identified several decades ago to highlight how a study’s finding of a survival advantage for patients undergoing heart transplant was nullified once immortal time was properly accounted for [3]. Despite its long existence in epidemiological teachings, the authors cite several studies both within and outside of the urological literature that have failed to appropriately account for this bias. Many of these studies employ binary exposure variables, but Wallis et al. delve into relatively uncharted territory by examining the effect of immortal-time bias on multi-level categorical exposures.

The relationship between testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) and mortality, the focus of the accompanying study, is apt because it is a controversial topic that weighs heavily on an accurate assessment of the therapy’s risks and benefits. The authors, using data from their own prior study, show that this delicate balance can be easily tipped when immortal-time bias is not properly accounted for. In their analysis, the overall result was the same regardless of controlling for this bias; men in the lowest tertile of TRT exposure had a higher risk of mortality, and those in the highest tertile had a lower risk of mortality; however, use of a time-fixed as opposed to the more appropriate time-varying analysis led to a substantial magnification of the effect size in each direction. While the overall result may have been the same in this example, the authors cite other instances of high-impact research whose published conclusions were shown to be completely different once accounting for immortal-time bias [4]. One can easily imagine how this type of erroneous data analysis could have deleterious consequences in the clinical setting. Healthcare providers rely on research to make decisions that have far-reaching impacts on patients’ lives. This study highlights the importance of ensuring that such analyses are carried out properly so that patients can receive the high-quality, evidence-based care they deserve.

The authors should be commended for taking the time to deconstruct and evaluate an analytical concept that is pertinent to study designs across several disciplines. Much of the research published today seeks to find answers to important clinical questions, but not nearly enough investigation is devoted to verifying that the analyses to obtain these answers are conducted properly. Urology in particular is a field that is still maturing with respect to the use of secondary data analytical techniques, such as propensity score models and instrumental variables [5]. To sustain our improvement in investigative skills alongside our fellow medical disciplines, we must pay special attention to studies that hold a magnifying glass to commonly used methodologies in the urological literature. In a similar vein, there have been increasing efforts recently to improve the process and transparency of corroborating the results of scientific studies, and these authors’ findings reinforce why these efforts are so crucial. If we expect to continue pushing forward the boundaries of medical research, it is our duty to ensure that our analytical methods are as rigorous and accurate as possible.

Sean A. Fletcher, Philipp Gild and Quoc-Dien Trinh
Division of Urological Surgery and Center for Surgery and Public Health, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Womens Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

 

 

References

 

 

2 Suissa S. Immortal time bias in pharmaco-epidemiology. Am J Epidemiol 2008; 167: 4929

 

3 Gail MH. Does cardiac transplantation prolong life? A reassessment Ann Intern Med 1972; 76: 8157

 

4 van Walraven C, Davis D, Forster AJ et al. Time-dependent bias was common in survival analyses published in leading clinical journals. J Clin Epidemiol 2004; 57: 67282

 

5 Cole AP, Trinh QD. Secondary data analysis: techniques for comparing interventions and their limitations. Curr Opin Urol 2017; 27: 3549

 

Video: Immortal-Time Bias in Urological Research

Estimating the effect of immortal-time bias in urological research: a case example of testosterone-replacement therapy

 

Read the full article

Abstract

Objective

To quantify the effect of immortal-time bias in an observational study examining the effect of cumulative testosterone exposure on mortality.

Patients and Methods

We used a population-based matched cohort study of men aged ≥66 years, newly treated with testosterone-replacement therapy (TRT), and matched-controls from 2007 to 2012 in Ontario, Canada to quantify the effects of immortal-time bias. We used generalised estimating equations to determine the association between cumulative TRT exposure and mortality. Results produced by models using time-fixed and time-varying exposures were compared. Further, we undertook a systematic review of PubMed to identify studies addressing immortal-time bias or time-varying exposures in the urological literature and qualitatively summated these.

Results

Among 10 311 TRT-exposed men and 28 029 controls, the use of a time-varying exposure resulted in the attenuation of treatment effects compared with an analysis that did not account for immortal-time bias. While both analyses showed a decreased risk of death for patients in the highest tertile of TRT exposure, the effect was overestimated when using a time-fixed analysis (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 0.56, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.52–0.61) when compared to a time-varying analysis (aHR 0.67, 95% CI: 0.62–0.73). Of the 1 241 studies employing survival analysis identified in the literature, nine manuscripts met criteria for inclusion. Of these, five used a time-varying analytical method. Each of these was a large, population-based retrospective cohort study assessing potential harms of pharmacological agents.

Conclusions

Where exposures vary over time, a time-varying exposure is necessary to draw meaningful conclusions. Failure to use a time-varying analysis will result in overestimation of a beneficial effect. However, time-varying exposures are uncommonly utilised among manuscripts published in prominent urological journals.

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