Confounding adjustment plan
Specify covariates adjustment and diagnostics
Select adjustment variables using their causal and temporal roles. Avoid indiscriminate adjustment for post-exposure mediators or colliders. Examine overlap and measured balance; neither establishes absence of unmeasured confounding.
Flow diagram
Steps
Define causal structure
Identify confounders, mediators and colliders using substantive evidence.
Specify baseline covariates
Define measurements and timing before exposure.
Choose adjustment strategy
Prespecify modeling, weighting or matching with justification.
Assess overlap and positivity
Define diagnostics, extreme-weight handling and target-population consequences.
Assess balance and fit
Set diagnostics and revision rules before outcomes are examined.
Assess residual confounding
Document unmeasured confounding and sensitivity or negative-control plans.
Confounding adjustment plan
End flow
Tables and supporting information
Adjustment variables
Avoid automatic variable selection based only on observed significance.
Adjustment diagnostics
Specify decisions without prefilled thresholds.
Identification assumptions
For a causal interpretation, justify consistency of the specified strategies, conditional exchangeability (no remaining confounding given the adjustment set), and positivity (support for both strategies). Examine interference and informative censoring. Measured balance cannot establish these assumptions.