The Subtype-Free Average Causal Effect for Heterogeneous Disease Etiology
异质性疾病病因中的无其他亚型平均因果效应
Studies have shown that the effect an exposure may have on a disease can vary for different subtypes of the same disease. However, existing approaches to estimate and compare these effects largely overlook causality. In this paper, we study the effect smoking may have on having colorectal cancer subtypes defined by a trait known as microsatellite instability (MSI). We use principal stratification to propose an alternative causal estimand, the Subtype-Free Average Causal…