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Causal DAG templates

Biology — Immortal Time Bias

Surviving to be treated inflates treated-group survival.

Template previewCausal DAG
Immortal time biasEReceived treatmentDSurvivalWSurvived the waiting periodExposureOutcomeConfounderMediatorUnobserved`Survival` is not a descendant of `Received treatment`, so P(Survival | do(Received treatment)) = P(Survival): this diagram says the effect is…No arrow path leads from `Received treatment` to `Survival`. This diagram states that the exposure has NO effect on the outcome — which may be exactly the null hy…

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title "Immortal time bias"
exposure E "Received treatment"
outcome D "Survival"
node W "Survived the waiting period"
W -> E
W -> D