Conditional Adjustment in a Markov Equivalence Class

Abstract

We consider the problem of identifying a conditional causal effect through covariate adjustment. We focus on the setting where the causal graph is known up to one of two types of graphs: a maximally oriented partially directed acyclic graph (MPDAG) or a partial ancestral graph (PAG). Both MPDAGs and PAGs represent equivalence classes of possible underlying causal models. After defining adjustment sets in this setting, we provide a necessary and sufficient graphical criterion – the conditional adjustment criterion – for finding these sets under conditioning on variables unaffected by treatment. We further provide explicit sets from the graph that satisfy the conditional adjustment criterion, and therefore, can be used as adjustment sets for conditional causal effect identification.