ArticleEpidemiologic perspectives & innovations : EP+I2009
The role of causal criteria in causal inferences: Bradford Hill's "aspects of association".
Article in Epidemiologic perspectives & innovations : EP+I, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 4 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
24 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Causal Relationship Between the Risk Factors and Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders Among Professional Drivers: A Systematic Review.Human factors · 2023Pooled it
- Does physical activity prevent cognitive decline and dementia?: A systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal studies.BMC public health · 2014Pooled it
- The social determinants of infant mortality and birth outcomes in Western developed nations: a cross-country systematic review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2013Pooled it
- A systematic review of the etiopathogenesis of Kienböck's disease and a critical appraisal of its recognition as an occupational disease related to hand-arm vibration.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2012Pooled it
- Beyond correlation and causation: epistemic caution, anomalous findings, and COVID-19 vaccine safety.Philosophy, ethics, and humanities in medicine : PEHM · 2026Review
- Enhancing the utility of exploratory 'factors associated with' studies in global mental health: the importance of context in Sub-Saharan Africa.International journal of mental health systems · 2026Article
- Interpreting and coding causal relationships for quality and safety using ICD-11.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2023Review
- Multivariate analysis identifying the main factors associated with cow productivity and welfare in tropical smallholder dairy farms in Vietnam.Tropical animal health and production · 2022Article
- Use of real-world evidence from healthcare utilization data to evaluate drug safety during pregnancy.Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety · 2019Review
- Causal criteria: time has come for a revision.European journal of epidemiology · 2019Article
- Effect of child marriage on girls' school dropout in Nepal: Analysis of data from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2014.PloS one · 2017Article
- Realist theory construction for a mixed method multilevel study of neighbourhood context and postnatal depression.SpringerPlus · 2016Article
- The causal effect of opioid substitution treatment on HAART medication refill adherence.AIDS (London, England) · 2015Article
- Identifying plausible adverse drug reactions using knowledge extracted from the literature.Journal of biomedical informatics · 2014Article
- Realist explanatory theory building method for social epidemiology: a protocol for a mixed method multilevel study of neighbourhood context and postnatal depression.SpringerPlus · 2014Article
- Limitations of observational evidence: implications for evidence-based dietary recommendations.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2014Review
- Hume, Mill, Hill, and the sui generis epidemiologic approach to causal inference.American journal of epidemiology · 2013Article
- Stories from the evolution of guidelines for causal inference in epidemiologic associations: 1953-1965.American journal of epidemiology · 2012Article
- The high burden of infant deaths in rural Burkina Faso: a prospective community-based cohort study.BMC public health · 2012Article
- A review of causal inference for biomedical informatics.Journal of biomedical informatics · 2011Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
As noted by Wesley Salmon and many others, causal concepts are ubiquitous in every branch of theoretical science, in the practical disciplines and in everyday life. In the theoretical and practical sciences especially, people often base claims about causal relations on applications of statistical methods to data. However, the source and type of data place important constraints on the choice of statistical methods as well as on the warrant attributed to the causal claims based on the use of such methods. For example, much of the data used by people interested in making causal claims come from non-experimental, observational studies in which random allocations to treatment and control groups are not present. Thus, one of the most important problems in the social and health sciences concerns making justified causal inferences using non-experimental, observational data. In this paper, I examine one method of justifying such inferences that is especially widespread in epidemiology and the health sciences generally - the use of causal criteria. I argue that while the use of causal criteria is not appropriate for either deductive or inductive inferences, they do have an important role to play in inferences to the best explanation. As such, causal criteria, exemplified by what Bradford Hill referred to as "aspects of [statistical] associations", have an indispensible part to play in the goal of making justified causal claims.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.