Matched Dose-Response Analysis — Exposure-Gradient Assessment in Matched Designs

Matched dose-response analysis evaluates whether increasing levels of exposure are associated with proportionally increasing (or decreasing) risk of an outcome, within a study where cases and controls — or exposed and unexposed individuals — have been deliberately matched on key confounders such as age, sex, or study site. Matching controls residual confounding structurally, while the dose-response component tests whether the exposure-outcome relationship follows a biologically plausible gradient, strengthening causal inference.