---
title: >-
  A Practical Example Demonstrating the Utility of Single-world Intervention
  Graphs
description: >-
  Explore this publication on real-world evidence: A Practical Example
  Demonstrating the Utility of Single-world Intervention Graphs..
date: '2018-01-01'
author: Alexander Breskin
category: Publications
tags:
  - Epidemiology
  - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  - Approval & Commercialization
  - 'Yes'
  - Health System Partner
  - Oral Presentation
  - Methods/Pharmacoepi
  - R&D
canonical_url: >-
  https://www.headwaterscience.com/resources/publications/pub-epidemiology/a-practical-example-demonstrating-the-utility-of-single/
source: Headwater Science
license: © 2026 Headwater Science. All rights reserved.
slug: a-practical-example-demonstrating-the-utility-of-single
id: 7yOeLClYsbVx3YZ6dSxYuO
contentType: article
---

## Challenge

Single-world intervention graphs—which integrate the potential outcomes framework explicitly into causal diagrams—had been developed theoretically but lacked a practical worked example demonstrating their utility for identifying causal effects in the presence of selection bias.

## Solution

Target RWE researchers and UNC collaborators published a practical example in Epidemiology demonstrating how SWIGs supplement traditional causal DAGs to reveal identifiability conditions necessary to estimate treatment effects from observed data in a vaccine trial with dropout.

## Impact

Providing an accessible SWIG worked example in a leading journal advances adoption of this causal tool among epidemiologists and positions Target RWE's team at the frontier of causal diagram methodology development.

## Use Cases / Links

SWIG practical example for causal effect identification in observational settings with selection bias, Causal diagram methodology contribution for treatment effect identification in pharma RWE programs