ArticleAmerican journal of public health2006
Complex causal process diagrams for analyzing the health impacts of policy interventions.
Article in American journal of public health, 2006. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers, 3 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
39 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Understanding the effectiveness and underlying mechanisms of lifestyle modification interventions in adults with learning disabilities: a mixed-methods systematic review.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2025Pooled it
- A systematic literature review of the key challenges for developing the structure of public health economic models.International journal of public health · 2016Pooled it
- The Mental Health Outcomes of Drought: A Systematic Review and Causal Process Diagram.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2015Pooled it
- The impact of Mexico's conditional cash transfer programme, Oportunidades, on birthweight.Tropical medicine & international health : TM & IH · 2008Trial
- The Mechanism by 18 RCTs Psychosocial Interventions Affect the Personality, Emotions, and Behaviours of Paediatric and Young Adult Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Improving Implementation of an Electronic Prescription System for COVID-19 Vaccination in the Czech Republic: Process Modeling Approach.JMIR formative research · 2023Article
- Understanding the effectiveness and underlying mechanisms of lifestyle modification interventions in adults with learning disabilities: protocol for a mixed-methods systematic review.Systematic reviews · 2021Article
- The Application of Systems Science in Nutrition-Related Behaviors and Outcomes Implementation Research: A Scoping Review.Current developments in nutrition · 2021Article
- Development of Conceptual Models to Guide Public Health Research, Practice, and Policy: Synthesizing Traditional and Contemporary Paradigms.Health promotion practice · 2020Article
- Is the decline of active travel to school unavoidable by-products of economic growth and urbanization in developing countries?Sustainable cities and society · 2019Article
- Synthesising quantitative evidence in systematic reviews of complex health interventions.BMJ global health · 2019Article
- Professional learning and development of postdoctoral scholars: a scoping review protocol.Systematic reviews · 2018Article
- Nature Contact and Human Health: A Research Agenda.Environmental health perspectives · 2017Article
- A Patient and Provider Research Agenda on Diabetes and Hypertension Management.American journal of preventive medicine · 2017Article
- Causal inference in cumulative risk assessment: The roles of directed acyclic graphs.Environment international · 2017Article
- Using systems science to understand the determinants of inequities in healthy eating.PloS one · 2017Article
- Describing complex clinical scenarios at the bed-side: Is a systems science approach useful? Exploring a novel diagrammatic approach to facilitate clinical reasoning.BMC medical education · 2016Article
- The current deconstruction of paradoxes: one sign of the ongoing methodological "revolution".European journal of epidemiology · 2015Article
- Applications of systems science in biomedical research regarding obesity and noncommunicable chronic diseases: opportunities, promise, and challenges.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2015Review
- A social-ecological analysis of community perceptions of dengue fever and Aedes aegypti in Machala, Ecuador.BMC public health · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Causal diagrams are rigorous tools for controlling confounding. They also can be used to describe complex causal systems, which is done routinely in communicable disease epidemiology. The use of change diagrams has advantages over static diagrams, because change diagrams are more tractable, relate better to interventions, and have clearer interpretations. Causal diagrams are a useful basis for modeling. They make assumptions explicit, provide a framework for analysis, generate testable predictions, explore the effects of interventions, and identify data gaps. Causal diagrams can be used to integrate different types of information and to facilitate communication both among public health experts and between public health experts and experts in other fields. Causal diagrams allow the use of instrumental variables, which can help control confounding and reverse causation.
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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.