Figure 3.

The covariate balances between the low and high ADI groups in patients with colorectal cancer are evaluated by the SMDs. SMDs are calculated as follows: the numerator is the mean of the treated group minus the mean of the control group, and the denominator is the “pooled” standard deviation (the square root of the mean of the group variances). A difference of SMD equal to zero is an ideal balance. The blue dots are SMDs for each variable before using the IPW adjustment. The red dots are SMDs for each variable after using IPW adjustment. Abbreviations: ADI: Area Deprivation Index; SMD: standardized mean difference; IPW: Inverse Probability of Weighting.