Analysis of 1 : 1 Matched Cohort Studies and Twin Studies, with Binary Exposures and Binary Outcomes

Abstract

To improve confounder adjustments, observational studies are often matched on potential confounders. While matched case-control studies are common and well covered in the literature, our focus here is on matched cohort studies, which are less common and sparsely discussed in the literature. Matched data also arise naturally in twin studies, as a cohort of exposure–discordant twins can be viewed as being matched on a large number of potential confounders. The analysis of twin studies will be given special attention. We give an overview of various analysis methods for matched cohort studies with binary exposures and binary outcomes. In particular, our aim is to answer the following questions: (1) What are the target parameters in the common analysis methods? (2) What are the underlying assumptions in these methods? (3) How do the methods compare in terms of statistical power?