Deep determinism and the assessment of mechanistic interaction between categorical and continuous variables

Abstract

Our aim is to detect mechanistic interaction between the effects of two causal factors on a binary response, as an aid to identifying situations where the effects are mediated by a common mechanism. We propose a formalization of mechanistic interaction which acknowledges asymmetries of the kind "factor A interferes with factor B, but not viceversa". A class of tests for mechanistic interaction is proposed, which works on discrete or continuous causal variables, in any combination. Conditions under which these tests can be applied under a generic regime of data collection, be it interventional or observational, are discussed in terms of conditional independence assumptions within the framework of Augmented Directed Graphs. The scientific relevance of the method and the practicality of the graphical framework are illustrated with the aid of two studies in coronary artery disease. Our analysis relies on the "deep determinism" assumption that there exists some relevant set V - possibly unobserved - of "context variables", such that the response Y is a deterministic function of the values of V and of the causal factors of interest. Caveats regarding this assumption in real studies are discussed.Comment: 20 pages including the four figures, plus two tables. Submitted to "Biostatistics" on November 24, 201