Other Outcomes and Causation

Question 1

describe temporality

Answer 1

• exposure occurred before the outcome
• the exposure could be a cause of the outcome

Question 2

describe consistency

Answer 2

• an association found in several different studies with different study designs carried out under different circumstances with different populations
• is more likely to be causal
• again, this is because a consistent association is less likely to be due to undetected confounding or bias

Question 3

describe a biological gradient

Answer 3

• dose response relationship
  
  • the number of cigarettes smoked/day leads to increased risk of lung cancer

Question 4

describe biological plausibility

Answer 4

• refers to the proposal of a causal association—a relationship between a putative cause and an outcome—that is consistent with existing biological and medical knowledge.

Question 5

describe reversibility

Answer 5

• experimental evidence to show that the removal of the exposure leads to a reduction in the risk of the outcome
• provides very strong evidence in favor of a causal relationship

Question 6

give an example of experiment/reversibility

Answer 6

Question 7

describe coherence

Answer 7

• the cause/effect interpretation of an association be supported by what is known about the natural history and biology of the state of health or disease. This information can come from a variety of sources, including community and clinical trials, in vitro laboratory experiments and animal models

Question 8

describe multi-causality

Answer 8

• the multi-causal paradigm is the dominant theory of causation in contemporary epidemiology
  
  • a cause of a specific disease: any factor that plays an essential role in producing an occurrence of the disease