Right Censoring and Mortality in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study and Women’s Interagency HIV Study
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Epidemiologists frequently employ right censoring to handle missing outcome, covariate, or exposure data incurred when participants have large gaps between study visits or stop attending study visits entirely. But, if participants who are censored are more or less likely to experience outcomes of interest than those not censored, such censoring could introduce bias in estimated measures. METHODS: We examined how censoring after two consecutive missed visits may affect mortality results from the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS) and Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS). MACS and WIHS provide linkages to vital statistics registries, such that mortality data were available for all participants, regardless of whether they attended study visits. RESULTS: In a gold standard analysis that did not censor after two consecutive missed visits, 10-year mortality was 23% (95% CI: 22, 24) in MACS and 21% (95% CI: 20, 23) in WIHS. Estimated mortality was modestly reduced by 0%-5% across subgroups when censoring at missed visits. Applying inverse probability of censoring weights partially removed this attenuation. CONCLUSIONS: While mortality was slightly elevated after two consecutive missed visits in MACS and WIHS, censoring at two consecutive missed visits did not substantially alter estimated mortality, particularly after applying inverse probability of censoring weights.
Source: Epidemiology
Authors: Jessie K. Edwards, Tiffany L. Breger, Stephen R. Cole, Paul N. Zivich, Bonnie E. Shook-Sa, Leah M. Sadinski, Daniel Westreich, Andrew Edmonds, Catalina Ramirez, Igho Ofotokun, Seble G. Kassaye, Todd T. Brown, Deborah Konkle-Parker, Valentina Stosor, Robert Bolan, Sarah Krier, Deborah L. Jones, Gypsyamber D’Souza, Mardge Cohen, Phyllis C. Tien, Tonya Taylor, Kathryn Anastos, M. Bradley Drummond, Michelle Floris-Moore
Institutions: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Emory University, Georgetown University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Northwestern University, Los Angeles LGBT Center, University of Pittsburgh, University of Miami, Hektoen Institute, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco VA Health Care System, SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Language: English
Subfield: Statistics and Probability
Field: Mathematics
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: G1400602301, Translational Biomedical Science Training Grant, G1655989834, G1773452051, G183157880, G192128497, G2127051194, G248584506, G2755707676, G2759654445, G2839061624, G30074556, G319781266, G3242306066, G3418878615, G343705321, G3601397139, G483408255, G5431849782, Generalizing Effects of Infectious Disease Prevention Interventions in the Presence of Interference, G5747858550, University of Miami Developmental HIV/AIDS Mental Health Research Center (D-ARC), G693265041, Johns Hopkins Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, G825988287, Training in Infectious Disease Epidemiology (TIDE), University of Pittsburgh MACS/WIHS CCS, MACS/WIHS -CCS, Emory Specialized Center of Research Excellence (SCORE) on Sex Differences, UNC MACS/WIHS Combined Cohort Study Clinical Research Site, Surviving the HIV Epidemic (S/HE) in metropolitan Washington DC - Advancing knowledge through cohort studies, Center for AIDS Research at Emory University, Data Analysis and Coordination Center for the MACS-WIHS Combined Cohort Study, The University of North Carolina Center for AIDS Research, MACS/WIHS Combined Cohort Study: Brooklyn Clinical Research Site (Bklyn CRS), Clinical Research Sites for the MACS/WIHS Combined Cohort Study (MACS/WIHS-CCS) - Baltimore/Wash DC Center, Combining sources of information to improve HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis, UAB-MISS MACS/WIHS Combined Cohort Study, UCLA Clinical and Translational Science Institute, Clinical Research Sites for the MACS/WIHS Combined Cohort Study (MACS/WIHS-CCS), UAB Center for AIDS Research (CFAR)
OpenAlex ID: W4408791824