ArticleInternational journal of epidemiology2010
Causal thinking and complex system approaches in epidemiology.
Article in International journal of epidemiology, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 179 papers, 5 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.
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Who cites it
179 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Agent-Based Modelling of Health Inequalities following the Complexity Turn in Public Health: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Gentrification, Neighborhood Change, and Population Health: a Systematic Review.Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine · 2020Pooled it
- Efficacy of Exercise Intervention for Weight Loss in Overweight and Obese Adolescents: Meta-Analysis and Implications.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2016Pooled it
- Agent-based modeling of noncommunicable diseases: a systematic review.American journal of public health · 2015Pooled it
- Simulation models for socioeconomic inequalities in health: a systematic review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2013Pooled it
- Mortality Risks by Occupation During the Early Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic in New York City.American journal of industrial medicine · 2026Article
- The Epidemiology of Working Life: Reorganizing Occupational Health Science Around Work-Structured Exposure Systems.American journal of industrial medicine · 2026Article
- From Evidence to Application: An Operational Extension of Existing Sports Injury Frameworks for Sports Medicine Practitioners.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Review
- Causal Inference in Health Disparities Research.Annual review of public health · 2026Review
- Economic Impact of Malignant Catarrhal Fever on Cattle Production in Lephalale Municipality, Limpopo Province, South Africa.Veterinary sciences · 2026Article
- The Young Adult Sleep model: an evolving causal loop diagram of mental health dynamics.BMC medicine · 2026Article
- Epstein-Barr Virus, Lower Vitamin D, Low Sun Exposure, and HLA-DRB1*1501 Risk Variant Share Common Epigenetic Pathways Leading to Multiple Sclerosis Onset.Annals of neurology · 2026Article
- Health in a Digital Age: From Determinants to Dynamic Systems.Health data science · 2026Article
- Digital and AI-Empowered Health Elements: An Integrated Pathway to Advancing Health.Health data science · 2026Article
- DNA methylation mediates the multiple sclerosis onset risk associated with HHV-6 DNA positivity.Environmental epigenetics · 2026Article
- Complexity and risk factor research in mental disorders: better think twice.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Modeling ROI in chronic disease management: a simulation-based framework integrating patient adherence and policy timing.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Causality and exposome.European journal of epidemiology · 2025Article
- Advancing equitable and sustainable urban health.Nature medicine · 2025Review
- Understanding inequitable health care: methodological approaches, challenges, and opportunities.American journal of epidemiology · 2025Article
119 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Identifying biological and behavioural causes of diseases has been one of the central concerns of epidemiology for the past half century. This has led to the development of increasingly sophisticated conceptual and analytical approaches focused on the isolation of single causes of disease states. However, the growing recognition that (i) factors at multiple levels, including biological, behavioural and group levels may influence health and disease, and (ii) that the interrelation among these factors often includes dynamic feedback and changes over time challenges this dominant epidemiological paradigm. Using obesity as an example, we discuss how the adoption of complex systems dynamic models allows us to take into account the causes of disease at multiple levels, reciprocal relations and interrelation between causes that characterize the causation of obesity. We also discuss some of the key difficulties that the discipline faces in incorporating these methods into non-infectious disease epidemiology. We conclude with a discussion of a potential way forward.
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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.