ReviewJournal of epidemiology and community health2000
What is the "golden standard" for assessing population-based interventions?--problems of dilution bias.
Review in Journal of epidemiology and community health, 2000. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Non-invasive detection and monitoring of oral squamous cell carcinoma and oral potentially malignant disorders: an umbrella review on diagnostic accuracy.Clinical oral investigations · 2026Pooled it
- The accuracy of spot sign in predicting hematoma expansion after intracerebral hemorrhage: a systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2014Pooled it
- TABADO: "evaluation of a smoking cessation program among adolescents in vocational training centers": study protocol.BMC public health · 2009Trial
- Evaluation of a Targeted COVID-19 Community Outreach Intervention: Case Report for Precision Public Health.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2023Article
- Statins for primary prevention among elderly men and women.Cardiovascular research · 2022Article
- Effect of Food Environment Interventions on Anthropometric Outcomes in School-Aged Children and Adolescents in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Current developments in nutrition · 2020Article
- The short-term health and psychosocial impacts of domestic energy efficiency investments in low-income areas: a controlled before and after study.BMC public health · 2017Article
- A population-based intervention for the prevention of falls and fractures in home dwelling people 65 years and older in South Germany: protocol.JMIR research protocols · 2014Article
- Effectiveness of community-based comprehensive healthy lifestyle promotion on cardiovascular disease risk factors in a rural Vietnamese population: a quasi-experimental study.BMC cardiovascular disorders · 2012Article
- The Västerbotten Intervention Programme: background, design and implications.Global health action · 2010Article
- Validity of predictions in health impact assessment.Journal of epidemiology and community health · 2007Article
- Preventive home visits postpone mortality--a controlled trial with time-limited results.BMC public health · 2006Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo identify different types of dilution bias in population-based interventions and to suggest measures for handling these methodological problems.
designLiterature review plus analysis of data from a population-based intervention against cardiovascular disease in a Swedish municipality. MAIN
resultsThe effects of an intervention on mortality and morbidity were much more diluted by non-intervening factors, dissemination to areas outside the intervention area, social diffusion, population mobility and time than by using intermediate outcome measures.
conclusionsTheoretically, changes in scientifically well documented risk factors, for example, intermediate outcome measures, should be preferred to using morbidity or mortality as outcome measures.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.