Evaluating causal indirect effects when mediators are left-censored by assay limit of quantification
中介变量受检测定量下限左删失时的因果间接效应评估
Causal mediation analysis is essential for disentangling the mechanisms by which investigational therapeutic and preventive agents impact clinical outcomes. However, the measurement of biological mediators is often subject to left-censoring by technical measurement limitations, most commonly an assay's limit of quantification. This form of censoring can pose severe challenges for both identification and estimation of causal mediation estimands, particularly when the…