Our proposed strategy consists of four key steps, summarised in Box 1. We now discuss each point in turn.
Box 1 – Strategy for handling missing outcome data in clinical trials during a pandemic
Step 1: Clarify the treatment estimand of interest
In any trial, to help ensure the trial answers the question of interest it is important to precisely define the treatment effect, or estimand. The ICH E9(R1) addendum (11) describes five key attributes that form the description of an estimand. These are: (A) The population; the patients targeted by the scientific question, (B) The treatment condition of interest and the alternative treatment condition(s) e.g. control or placebo, (C) The variables (or endpoint) to be obtained for each patient required to address the scientific question, (D) The specification of how to account for intercurrent events to reflect the scientific question of interest, (E) The population level summary for the variable which provides a basis for a comparison between treatment conditions. For trials ongoing during a pandemic, in line with ICH-E9 (11), we assume a defined treatment estimand prior to the occurrence of the pandemic. Clarification on whether the pandemic impacts the trial estimand is first required. This will inform the missing data problem (step 2) and subsequent handling of missing data (steps 3 and 4).
A pandemic will not typically change estimand attributes A, B, C and E (14). But, a pandemic may introduce a number of new intercurrent (post-randomisation) events, which are defined as events affecting the interpretation or existence of trial outcomes (6, 11, 14). A pandemic may directly affect participant outcomes if they become infected with the underlying disease (e.g. infection with Covid-19). Conversely, a pandemic may indirectly affect participant outcomes due to treatment and standard care disruptions or participant behaviour changes (e.g. due to increased health care demands or participant health care anxieties).
We consider two estimands that may be of interest. The first is the treatment effect in a hypothetical ‘pandemic-free world’, where interest lies in the treatment effect we would have seen had the pandemic not happened. For this estimand, the impacts of the pandemic on the trial (e.g. infection of trial participants, treatment interruptions, etc), whether direct or indirect, obscure our interpretation of the relevant outcome data. As such, this estimand uses a hypothetical strategy to deal with these intercurrent events, where interest lies in the treatment effect that would be seen had these events not occurred.
The second estimand is the treatment effect in a ‘world including a pandemic’, where interest lies in the treatment effect that occurs in the presence of the pandemic. Here, the effects of the pandemic (e.g. infection of trial participants, treatment interruptions, etc) are directly relevant to the estimand. As such, this estimand uses a treatment policy approach to deal with these intercurrent events.
After clarifying which estimand is of interest (‘world including a pandemic’ vs. ‘pandemic- free world’ estimand), the challenges of a pandemic then surround handing the additional unplanned intercurrent events in a way that remains consistent with the estimand. Some of these intercurrent events may mean some participant outcomes you thought you had measured were not in fact measured for the chosen estimand.
Step 2: Establish what data are missing for the estimand at hand
We can only begin to think about missing data in any trial setting once the treatment estimand has been defined: only once we know exactly what we are aiming to estimate can we know whether we have the data required to estimate it. We define missing data as data that are required to estimate the estimand of interest, but that are unavailable. Some data maybe be physically missing (i.e. not collected) or some observed data may be best treated as missing in the analysis (i.e. set missing by the analyst) if not relevant for the estimand of interest.
For the ‘pandemic-free world’ estimand only participant data that is unaffected by the pandemic is required for the analysis (i.e. data collected before and during/after that hasn’t been affected). For such an estimand, if any data are collected from participants affected by the pandemic (directly or indirectly), this is not needed in the analysis and so may be best set missing; Including data from affected participants will adversely affect our estimate. Here, any data set missing due to the pandemic creates a missing data problem in the analysis. There may also be missing data from participants whose outcomes were planned to be collected during the pandemic, were not directly or indirectly clinically impacted by the pandemic, but were unobserved due to changes in follow-up procedures or participant engagement. Alongside this, there is the ‘usual’ missing data from participant’s pre- and/or post-pandemic. All such missing data must be handled in line with the targeted ‘pandemic-free world’ estimand.
For the ‘world including a pandemic’ estimand, all participant data pre-, during- and post-pandemic will be required for analysis. However, any participant data not collected still creates a missing data problem that must be addressed in line with the targeted ‘world including a pandemic’ estimand.
We note that if data from participants affected by the pandemic (e.g. through infection, treatment interruption, etc) is included the estimated treatment effect will correspond to a ‘world including a pandemic’ estimand. If this is not desired, and the ‘pandemic-free world’ estimand is required, observed data from participants who are clinically affected by the pandemic in any way (directly or indirectly) should be set to missing. In settings where the pandemic doesn’t clinically affect any participant outcomes (directly or indirectly) the two estimands will coincide and the distinction is not relevant.
Step 3: Perform primary analysis under the most plausible missing data assumptions
Once data that are missing have been established, the most appropriate missing data assumptions can be defined for the primary analysis. The analysis can then be performed using a statistical method that enables unbiased estimation under the chosen assumption. We now review the three general classes of missing data assumptions before providing suggestions on aspects to consider when forming assumptions for missing data in the context of trials impacted by a pandemic.
Missing data assumptions (or mechanisms) can be categorised into three broad types (12): Missing-completely-at-random (MCAR), Missing-at-random (MAR) and Missing-not-at-random (MNAR). Participant data are MCAR when the reason for the missingness is completely unrelated to the participants’ unobserved outcome or observed values of other recorded variables; the distribution of the missing participant data will look no different to that of the observed participant data. Data are MAR when missingness does not depend on participants unobserved data values once we have taken into account the information in their observed data in the analysis, such as baseline characteristics or, in longitudinal settings, earlier responses. Only once the observed data is conditioned on, will the missing data distribution then look no different to the observed data distribution. In trials, typically MAR will be more likely than MCAR; particularly in longitudinal studies, where conditioning on the partially observed longitudinal outcome data will make the MAR assumption much more plausible. Finally, data are MNAR when the missingness remains dependent on the unobserved values of the data in some form (or on observed data not included in the analysis); the missing participant data will have a potentially substantively different distribution to the observed data. Table 1 summarises the principal methods of analysis for unbiased estimation of a treatment effect (the estimand) under MCAR, MAR and MNAR in clinical trials (not an exhaustive list of options, see (7) or (8) for more detailed guidance).
Table 1
– Methods for unbiased analysis under MCAR/MAR/MNAR in clinical trials (not an exhaustive listing of options).
Assumption | Method for unbiased estimation | Comments |
MCAR | Any complete case analysis | Easy to implement but may not use all the available information in the data. Excludes participants with any missing data. |
MAR | Complete case analysis incorporating all variables associated with both outcome and missingness | Easy to implement but may not use all the available information in the data. Excludes participants with any missing data. Generally cannot incorporate post-randomisation data. |
Mixed model incorporating all variables associated with both outcome and missingness, which may include post-randomisation variables (e.g. for a longitudinal trial a mixed model for repeated measured MMRM) | Earlier response data can be incorporated in the analysis to strengthen/justify MAR. Includes all observed data on each participant. Additional post-randomisation data predictive of both missingness and outcome that are required to be included to justify MAR, but that the treatment estimate (estimand) should not be conditioned on can also be included, however careful model specification is required to do so (e.g. any post-randomisation variables must be included as additional responses in the model with separate means for each treatment group, for detailed guidance see (15)). |
Multiple Imputation incorporating all variables associated with both outcome and missingness, which may include post-randomisation variables | Closely approximates a complete case/mixed model analysis when the variables included in the imputation and analysis model match those in the complete case/mixed model analysis. The imputation model must include as a minimum all variables included with the analysis model (16). Provides a convenient analysis method when conditioning on particular variables is required to justify/strengthen a MAR assumption, but conditioning on these in the analysis is not required/appropriate. This is because variables that are predictive of both outcome and missingness, but that the treatment effect (estimand) should not be adjusted by, can be included in the imputation model and not in the subsequent analysis model. |
MNAR | Selection models: Consists of a model for the outcome data and a model for the occurrence of missing data | For example, may consist of a logistic model to model the log odds of response and how this depends on the unobserved outcome. Expert/clinical knowledge is required to inform how the log odds of response depends on the unobserved outcome. Can be fitted using maximum likelihood, or within a Bayesian framework (8). |
Pattern mixture models: Consists of a model for the outcome data for each missing data pattern | Expert/clinical knowledge is required to inform how the outcome data distribution varies for each missing data pattern. Can be fitted using maximum likelihood, within a Bayesian framework or, implemented in a multiple imputation framework, when it is referred to as ‘Controlled Multiple Imputation’ (8, 15): |
Controlled Multiple Imputation: Combines pattern mixture modelling and multiple imputation (e.g. delta-based or reference-based Multiple Imputation) | Data is imputed multiple times from a pattern mixture model. The analyst has direct ‘control’ over the imputation distribution. For example, in delta-based imputation a numerical offset term, delta, is typically added to the expected value of the missing data to assess the impact of unobserved participants having a worse or better response than of those observed. Reference-based imputation draws imputed values with some reference to the observed data in other groups of the trial, typically in other treatment arms. Different MNAR assumptions can be made for different groups of individuals in the same trial analysis by postulating different distributions for imputation or MAR and MNAR assumptions may be made for different groups (17). |
For any trial analysis, care should be taken to ensure an appropriate method is chose than handles all missing data appropriately for the treatment estimand of interest.
The most appropriate assumptions for missing data in the primary analysis will be trial and estimand specific. For all trials where follow-up continues in person, and resources allow, we recommend trialists attempt to contact participants who do not provide follow-up to determine why they are missing data e.g. to identify whether they were directly or indirectly impacted by the pandemic and how this has affected their outcome. This will help inform the most appropriate missing data assumptions. For trials ongoing during a pandemic different missing data assumptions may be best for different groups of participants to ensure assumptions align with the underlying estimand of interest, and we explore this further below.
While there are no assumptions that can be universally recommended, we now provide some structured guidance to help assist the decision on plausible missing data assumptions, and factors to consider incorporating within these if the trial includes:
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Participants directly clinically affected by a pandemic (e.Covid-19 infection),
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Participants indirectly clinically affected by a pandemic (e.changes to treatment/standard care),
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Participants lost to follow-up during pandemic times (outcomes unaffected by pandemic),
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Participants lost to follow-up during non-pandemic times (e.pre or post-pandemic).
We address these first for the ‘pandemic-free world’ estimand, followed by the ‘world including a pandemic’ estimand, considering the ASCOT trial as an example. A decision tree summarising our guidance, placed within the ICH E9(R1) framework for aligning trial objectives with conduct and analysis, (10), is provided in Fig. 1 for trialists to follow to support the selection of appropriate missing data assumptions.
‘Pandemic- free world’ estimand
Participants directly and indirectly clinically affected by a pandemic (i) and (ii):
Outcome data from participants that are clinically affected by a pandemic either directly (e.g. via participant infection with Covid-19), or indirectly, are treated as missing for the ‘pandemic-free world’ estimand and can be handled in the same way as each other. For such participants, an MAR assumption —conditional on randomised treatment arm and all observed variables expected to be associated with both the trial outcome and being missing (i.e. being directly or indirectly affected) — may be the most reasonable assumption for the primary analysis. Predictors of both missingness and outcome could include baseline participant characteristics (e.g. in ASCOT baseline vision, sex, comorbidities) and/or earlier observed data under pre-pandemic times (e.g. 3 month vision). This will assume the missing outcomes for those affected would have been similar to those of participants observed pre- pandemic (and if relevant those observed during or post the pandemic era, whose outcomes are not affected by the pandemic in any way) with the same values of the observed data, thus enabling estimation of the treatment effect in a pandemic free world.
If it is not required to estimate the treatment estimand conditionally on one or more of the observed variables that are related to both outcome and missingness, for example if a comorbidity was expected to be related to both, analysis options (not exhaustive) include using either (a) a carefully constructed mixed model (7, 8) or (b) multiple imputation where the comorbidity can be included in the imputation model and not the analysis model (7, 8, 16).
Participants lost to follow-up during pandemic times (iii):
Follow-up may continue for participants whose trials outcomes are not impacted directly or indirectly during a pandemic (remotely or in person), but only some of their outcomes may be observed. Here, relative to non-pandemic times, there may be different factors that are expected to be associated with both being missing (due to pandemic follow-up interruptions) and the trial outcome to consider to justify an MAR assumption. These factors may differ depending on the precise mode of follow-up during the pandemic.
For example, for ASCOT participants not infected by the pandemic (assuming the pandemic has no other indirect impacts on participants 6 month vision) if in-person follow-up continues, age may become an important factor to incorporate in the MAR assumption as strongly related to outcome: while prior to the pandemic, age was not associated with both missingness and outcome (only with the outcome, 6 month vision), due to the pandemic older participants may become more likely to stay at home to avoid increased risks of infection. The dataset may consequently end up having a higher rate of missing older people (who are unaffected by the pandemic, but have poorer vision simply because of age) compared to younger people (who are unaffected by the pandemic and may have better vision simply because of age).
In some special cases there may be no observed participant data during the pandemic because follow-up stops for everyone. This might occur when all trial participant outcomes would be impacted (directly or indirectly). Or, follow-up may stop for all — regardless of any impacts on trial outcomes — for practical/logistical reasons (e.g. clinical staff redeployed). As the halting of follow-up equally impacts all participants, there will likely be no pandemic-specific factors associated with both missingness and outcome (relative to pre-pandemic times) to incorporate for participants lost to follow-up during the pandemic for the ‘pandemic-free world’ estimand. Here, MAR conditional on predictors of outcome and missingness expected in non-pandemic times would likely be an appropriate option.
Participants lost to follow-up during non-pandemic times (iv):
In ASCOT, and likely in any trial overlapping the pandemic, there will inevitably also be data missing from participants in non-pandemic times. Trialists should consider whether the same missing data assumption is relevant for those missing data pre- (or post-) pandemic and during the pandemic.
Where prior to the pandemic, a reduced set of factors related to outcome and missingness were considered appropriate for analysis under MAR (e.g., in ASCOT, treatment arm, baseline vision and 3 month vision), analysis under MAR including an enlarged set of factors (to also handle participants of type (i), (ii) and/or (iii), e.g. also including sex, comorbidities and/or age) is suggested. Alternatively, multiple imputation could proceed separately for the two groups (not affected and affected by the pandemic).
In summary, for the ‘pandemic-free world estimand’ a carefully constructed enlarged MAR assumption (including all observed data expected to be related to both missingness and outcome across the trial participants) will often be most appropriate for primary analysis.
‘World including a pandemic’ estimand
In a world including a pandemic, outcomes from participants that are clinically affected by the pandemic (i. directly with the disease or ii. indirectly via changes to treatment/standard care) may either be observed – or expected – to be quite different to those observable under non-pandemic circumstances. To estimate the ‘world including a pandemic’ estimand, assumptions must be made for any participant data not collected during the pandemic era in a manner consistent to what would have been seen in the pandemic world; similarly, pre-/post-pandemic missing data must also be handled in a manner consistent with pre-/post- pandemic times. We now provide some suggestions on aspects to consider when forming missing data assumptions for this estimand.
Participants directly clinically affected by a pandemic (i):
Analysis under MAR, including an indicator of direct pandemic impact e.g. Covid-19 infection status, and all observed data expected to be associated with both trial outcome and missingness (e.g. treatment, risk factors for being impacted by Covid-19 and the vision outcome such as age or diabetes), may be most relevant for participants directly impacted in primary analysis – provided, given the observed factors, the distribution of the unobserved outcome values will be the same as for those observed and directly impacted.
If there are, however, no observed outcome data from directly impacted participants, or if it is not anticipated that Covid-19 infection status will allow adequate modelling of the distribution of the missing outcomes for other Covid-19 infected participants then a MNAR assumption will be required for participants directly impacted. It is most likely that a direct pandemic impact, i.e. Covid-19 infection, will have a negative impact on the trial outcome of interest, though the reverse is of course possible. As a worst case scenario, one could assume that all infected participants behaved like those observed in the trial’s standard care/control arm, to reflect no treatment benefit (e.g. a jump-to-reference assumption)(18). Or for the infected participants, one could assume a worse outcome than observed for those in their treatment arm by a particular quantity. For example, in ASCOT, suppose Covid-19 infection negatively impacts vision in a way that is not captured by any observed participant characteristics, we could assume any unobserved infected participant has an outcome 20% worse than for those observed (under MAR) in their treatment arm. A discussion between clinicians, researchers on the ground interacting with the Covid-19 infected participants and statisticians should occur to ensure appropriate, justifiable, MNAR assumptions are chosen.
Participants indirectly affected by a pandemic (ii)
Analysis under MAR given the pandemic time period (e.g. during/pre-/post-) and observed variables anticipated to be associated with both the trial outcome and missingness may be most relevant in primary analysis for participants indirectly impacted. If indirect impacts fluctuate over the pandemic period (e.g. the standard of care over a pandemic period changes over time due to fluctuating health care demands) there may be more than just one time point factor to incorporate in the missing data assumptions.
Where a trial data set also includes observed data from participants who are directly impacted by the pandemic, and outcome values of those directly and indirectly are impacted in different ways, it may also be relevant to include infection status within the missing data assumption.
If there are no observed outcome data from indirectly impacted participants, or if there are no observed variables that along with the pandemic time point can be used to fully model the outcome distribution for indirectly affected participants with missing data, an MNAR assumption may be more appropriate for participants indirectly impacted by a pandemic. Careful thought would need to be given as to what the missing outcomes might have looked like in the pandemic world.
Participants lost to follow-up during pandemic times (iii)
For participants whose outcomes are not directly or indirectly impacted by the pandemic, but who have missing data during the pandemic (e.g. participants in ASCOT who decide not to attend the 6 month follow-up during Covid-19 to avoid travel and risk of infection) analysis under MAR given observed data anticipated to be related to both outcome and missingness may be most relevant; which may differ depending on the precise mode of follow-up during the pandemic.
Where the trial data set also includes observed data from participants who are directly and/or indirectly clinically affected by the pandemic it will be essential to also include infection status and/or pandemic time period (pre/during/post) within the missing data assumption for primary analysis for participants impacted by outcome interruptions only (i.e. those lost to follow-up during the pandemic). This will ensure the missing data for the non-affected participants is modelled based upon the observed non-affected participants (and not the observed clinically affected participants).
Participants lost to follow-up during non-pandemic times (iv)
Trialists should consider whether the same missing data assumption is relevant for those with data missing pre- (or post-) pandemic due to loss to follow-up. Analysis under MAR including an enlarged set of factors (to also handle participants with types (i), (ii) and/or (iii), e.g. also including diabetes, age, infection status, pandemic time point as relevant) may be suitable to handle loss to follow-up outside pandemic times.
Of note, participant characteristics might in some cases be related to both outcome and missingness in the during and non-pandemic time periods, but in different ways. If this is an issue we recommend incorporating interactions between time periods (during/pre/post pandemic) and the affected characteristics in any missing data assumption.
In summary, for the ‘world including a pandemic’ estimand a carefully constructed enlarged MAR assumption, involving all observed data expected to be related to both missingness and outcome across the trial participants, potentially including pandemic time period (pre/during/post) and/or participant pandemic infection status where relevant is likely to be the most appropriate starting point for primary analysis. In some cases, an MNAR assumption may be more appropriate for participants directly or indirectly clinically affected by the pandemic. In the next section, we highlight an accessible method for analysis when different missing data assumptions are required for different participants in the same trial analysis.
Of course, a pandemic’s clinical impact (direct or indirect) may be unknown for all or some participants in some trials. Where it is unknown for all participants (e.g. Covid-19 infection status not collected) it will not be possible to condition the missingness on Covid-19 infection status, but the pandemic time period (pre/during/post) can still be incorporated when targeting the ‘world including a pandemic’ estimand.
Analysis when different missing data assumptions are required for different participants
One method which enables analysis under a variety of missing data assumptions is Controlled Multiple Imputation (MI) (17, 19). Controlled MI means the analyst exerts direct ‘control’ over the imputation distribution. Unobserved data are then imputed under the specified distribution multiple times to obtain multiple complete data sets. These are each analysed with the analysis model of interest that would have been used in the absence of missing data. Results are then combined across imputed data sets (using Rubin’s rules (20)) to provide a single treatment estimate which appropriately takes into account all the uncertainty associated with the unseen values, given the postulated distribution.
We discussed above how different missing data assumptions may sometimes be required for different individuals in the same trial analysis. Controlled multiple imputation provides an accessible tool for this. Different distributions for the missing data of different groups of individuals (e.g. MAR and MNAR) can be postulated for data imputation. For analysis under MNAR, to assess the impact of unobserved participants having a worse or better response than those observed, missing participant data can be imputed assuming the distribution of the observed data (i.e. MAR distribution ) +/- a specified numerical location shift. This is known as delta-based multiple imputation. Alternatively missing participant data may be drawn from a distribution that is formed with some reference to observed data in other groups of the trial, typically in other treatment arms. This is known as reference based multiple imputation (18). For example, in a two-arm placebo-controlled trial, participants with missing data in the active arm can be imputed to follow the distribution of the placebo arm, assuming no treatment benefit following drop-out (referred to as a jump-to-reference imputation).
An accessible tutorial provides a more detailed practical overview of controlled MI procedures, with worked examples and Stata code, where different assumptions are incorporated in one analysis (17).
Controlled multiple imputation also provides an accessible, flexible tool for contextually relevant sensitivity analysis which is the next and final key step when handling missing outcome data during a pandemic. We have previously shown that the aforementioned controlled procedures (delta- and reference-based multiple imputation) provide valid inference, as the proportion of information lost due to missing data under MAR is approximately preserved in the analysis (21); That is information anchored inference will be obtained.
Step 4: Perform sensitivity analysis under alternative plausible assumptions
Any missing data assumption is unverifiable, so sensitivity analyses under alternative plausible assumptions should be conducted. Sensitivity analysis should address the same question as the primary analysis (22). If it can be shown that the inference is robust to different missing data assumptions then this will provide confidence in the conclusions despite the missing data. If conclusions vary in sensitivity analysis it is equally important to demonstrate under what conditions results look different to ensure misleading conclusions are not drawn. As described above, a MAR assumption will be most plausible for primary analysis in the majority of scenarios. For both the ‘pandemic- free world’ and ‘world including a pandemic’ estimand it will be important to conduct sensitivity analyses under alternative plausible MNAR assumptions, which have MAR as a departure point and align with the chosen estimand.
The challenge is that there will be numerous ways in which the unobserved data could be modelled, so where should one start? One option is to use the MAR distribution as a departure point. The MAR data distribution provides an unambiguous starting point for MNAR exploration. For example, starting with the specification of the conditional data distribution implied by MAR, one can perform sensitivity analysis exploring departures from MAR by shifting the parameter values of the distribution in a contextually relevant manner for the estimand at hand. As introduced above, an analysis under such an assumption can be accessibly conducted using ‘delta-method’ multiple imputation.
For the ‘pandemic free world’ estimand, it cannot be ruled out that —in the absence of a pandemic—participants with missing data would have actually have had worse/or better outcomes than those observed in the trial. This is why conducting sensitivity analysis using a series of shifts in the MAR distribution may be a particularly useful approach to demonstrate the robustness of conclusions here.
For the ‘world including a pandemic’ estimand; depending on the underlying disease, it may be more likely that those affected by the pandemic —or also those that decide not to attend follow-up visits (in person or remotely) — had poorer outcomes than those observed in pandemic times. This MNAR scenario becomes more likely in the context of a pandemic, as a greater number of participants in poorer health may stay at home to avoid additional pandemic implications. Or, depending on the trial context, it may be healthier participants who stay at home — since they feel they don’t have an essential need for clinical follow-up. Starting with an appropriate MAR assumption (conditional on factors in the pandemic time period, pandemic infection status and other predictors of response in a pandemic era) one can assess alternative contextually plausible MNAR assumptions by shifting the parameters of this distribution. The parameter shifts should be relevant to what the unobserved outcomes are hypothesised to look like in the pandemic world.
In any trial setting, careful thought must be given to what are appropriate values for the sensitivity analysis parameters when utilising such an approach. Discussions between clinicians, researchers interacting with the trial participants (those infected and those not infected) and statisticians should take place to help ensure appropriate missing data assumptions are chosen and justified.
The difference between the MAR and MNAR distribution can alternatively be described using within-trial information by reference to other groups in the data in sensitivity analysis. The parameters of the observed data distribution, estimated assuming MAR, can be mixed around, across arms rather than within, to form contextually relevant MNAR distributions for the unobserved data. This is referred to as ‘reference based MI.’ Further practical guidance in implementing such sensitivity analysis, including examples and Stata code is provided in (17).