Lecture 11: Establishing Causality Flashcards
(16 cards)
Why is establishing causal relationships important in epidemiology?
Establishing causal relationships is important to provide support for evidence-based practice and can allow for preventive measures to be implemented before determining the cause of a disease.
What is the Bradford Hill Framework?
The Bradford Hill Framework is a set of criteria to aid in establishing causal relationships.
Temporality
Strength of association
Reversibility
Biological gradient
Biological plausibility
Consistency
Specificity of association.
What does the criterion of temporality refer to?
Temporality refers to the need for the cause to occur before the disease in order to establish a causal relationship.
What is meant by the strength of association?
The strength of association indicates that the stronger the association, the more likely it is to be causal in the absence of known biases.
What is reversibility in the context of causal relationships?
Reversibility demonstrates that under controlled conditions, a change in exposure results in a change in the outcome.
What is a sufficient cause in epidemiology?
A sufficient cause is a whole pie made up of several slices (components), representing a minimum set of conditions needed for a disease to occur.
What is a component cause?
A component cause is a factor that contributes to disease causation but is not sufficient to cause the disease on its own.
What is a necessary cause?
A necessary cause is a component cause that must be present for a specific disease to occur.
What does the biological gradient (dose-response) refer to?
The biological gradient refers to the incremental change in disease rates in conjunction with corresponding changes in exposure.
What is meant by biological plausibility of association?
Biological plausibility of association asks whether the association makes sense biologically.
What does consistency of association entail?
Consistency of association involves the replication of findings by different investigators, at different times, in different places, and with different methods
What is specificity of association?
Specificity of association means that a cause leads to a single effect and an effect has a single caus
What is the significance of understanding causal phenomena?
Causal phenomena are usually complex, and exposure-outcome relationships are often not 1:1.
What is a sufficient cause in epidemiology?
A sufficient cause is a whole pie made up of several slices (components), representing a minimum set of conditions needed for a disease to occur.
How can blocking or removing a component cause affect disease prevention?
Blocking or removing any component cause can prevent some cases of disease, and it is not necessary to identify every component cause to achieve this.
What is the importance of knowledge of the complete pathway in disease prevention?
Knowledge of the complete pathway is not a prerequisite for introducing preventive measures.
