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Propensity score matching for selection of local areas as controls for evaluation of effects of alcohol policies in case series and quasi case-control designs

de Vocht, F., Campbell, R., Brennan, A., Mooney, John, Angus, C. and Hickman, M. (2015) Propensity score matching for selection of local areas as controls for evaluation of effects of alcohol policies in case series and quasi case-control designs. Public Health, 132. 40 - 49. ISSN 0033-3506

Item Type: Article

Abstract

Objectives: Area-level public health interventions can be difficult to evaluate using natural experiments. We describe the use of propensity score matching (PSM) to select control local authority areas (LAU) to evaluate the public health impact of alcohol policies for (1) prospective evaluation of alcohol policies using area-level data, and (2) a novel two-stage quasi case-control design. Study design: Ecological. Methods: Alcohol-related indicator data (Local Alcohol Profiles for England, PHE Health Profiles and ONS data) were linked at LAU level. Six LAUs (Blackpool, Bradford, Bristol, Ipswich, Islington, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne) as sample intervention or case areas were matched to two control LAUs each using PSM. For the quasi case-control study a second stage was added aimed at obtaining maximum contrast in outcomes based on propensity scores. Matching was evaluated based on average standardized absolute mean differences (ASAM) and variable-specific P-values after matching. Results: The six LAUs were matched to suitable control areas (with ASAM < 0.20, P-values >0.05 indicating good matching) for a prospective evaluation study that sought areas that were similar at baseline in order to assess whether a change in intervention exposure led to a change in the outcome (alcohol related harm). PSM also generated appropriate matches for a quasi case-control study - whereby the contrast in health outcomes between cases and control areas needed to be optimized in order to assess retrospectively whether differences in intervention exposure were associated with the outcome. Conclusions: The use of PSM for area-level alcohol policy evaluation, but also for other public health interventions, will improve the value of these evaluations by objective and quantitative selection of the most appropriate control areas.

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More Information

Uncontrolled Keywords: Methodology; Alcohol Policy; Public Health
Depositing User: John Mooney

Identifiers

Item ID: 7020
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2015.10.033
ISSN: 0033-3506
URI: http://sure.sunderland.ac.uk/id/eprint/7020
Official URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S...

Users with ORCIDS

ORCID for John Mooney: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-6639-8491

Catalogue record

Date Deposited: 15 Mar 2017 14:04
Last Modified: 18 Dec 2019 15:40

Contributors

Author: John Mooney ORCID iD
Author: F. de Vocht
Author: R. Campbell
Author: A. Brennan
Author: C. Angus
Author: M. Hickman

University Divisions

Faculty of Health Sciences and Wellbeing
Faculty of Health Sciences and Wellbeing > School of Nursing and Health Sciences

Subjects

Sciences > Health Sciences
Sciences

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