Arises when there is a failure to identify a common starting time for an exposure or a disease.
David Sackett in his 1979 paper on bias in analytical research described starting time bias as “Starting time bias. The failure to identify a common starting time for exposure or illness may lead to systematic misclassification.” This bias relates to selection bias, non-contemporaneous control bias and could be an example of chronological bias.
Please the catalogue entries on selection bias and chronological bias for examples.
The impact of chronological bias and selection bias is described in the relevant catalogue entries.
Preventive steps relevant for chronological bias and selection bias are given in the relevant catalogue entries.
Catalogue of Bias Collaboration. Heneghan C. Starting time bias. In: Catalogue Of Bias 2019: https://catalogofbias.org/biases/starting-time-bias/
