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. 2023 Jan 6;24:14. doi: 10.1186/s13063-022-06967-6

Table 1.

Summary of analytic methods and their properties

Method Properties
Unadjusted Unbiased in all settings.
Typically reduced power compared to adjusted approaches.
ANCOVA/Adjusted Typically leads to increases in power.
Retains good properties if many covariates adjusted for.
No issues with estimation of standard errors in small samples.
Bias in non-linear interaction setting.
Marginal odds ratio cannot be targeted.
Convergence issues if risk ratio is of interest.
G-computation Undercoverage and high type I error in small sample sizes.
Bias in non-linear interaction setting; alleviated by allowing for interaction.
IPTW Covariate–outcome relationship need not be specified.
Undercoverage and high type I error in small sample sizes and adjusting for a few covariates.
Overcoverage if adjusting for many covariates.
Convergence issues if there are many covariates.
Slight bias in non-linear interaction setting.
AIPTW Either covariate–treatment or covariate–outcome relationship needs to be correct.
Undercoverage and high type I error in small sample sizes.
Convergence issues if there are many covariates.
Slight bias in non-linear interaction setting.
TMLE Either covariate–treatment or covariate–outcome relationship needs to be correct.
Standard errors can be underestimated if efficient influence function based estimators are used.
Slight bias in non-linear interaction setting.