ReviewEuropean journal of epidemiology2011
Identification of operating mediation and mechanism in the sufficient-component cause framework.
Review in European journal of epidemiology, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
What it found
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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
20 citing papers in PubMed.
- Causal diagrams integrating counterfactuals and sufficient causes.American journal of epidemiology · 2026Article
- Causal Approaches to Disease Progression Analyses.Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2025Article
- Unraveling Causality: Innovations in Epidemiologic Methods.JMA journal · 2025Article
- The interventionist approach can address questions related to causes of effects if causes are considered as states instead of interventions.Observational studies · 2025Article
- Insulin resistance as a mediator of the association between obesity, high-intensity binge drinking, and liver enzyme abnormalities in young and middle-aged adults: a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Article
- Strength in causality: discerning causal mechanisms in the sufficient cause model.European journal of epidemiology · 2021Article
- Causal Diagrams: Pitfalls and Tips.Journal of epidemiology · 2020Article
- Understanding and misunderstanding randomized controlled trials.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2018Article
- Causal mediation analysis with multiple causally non-ordered mediators.Statistical methods in medical research · 2018Article
- Attributing diseases to multiple pathways: a causal-pie modeling approach.Clinical epidemiology · 2018Article
- Quantile causal mediation analysis allowing longitudinal data.Statistics in medicine · 2017Article
- Consistency in patient-reported outcomes after total hip replacement.Acta orthopaedica · 2017Article
- Invited Commentary: The Continuing Need for the Sufficient Cause Model Today.American journal of epidemiology · 2017Article
- Causal mediation analysis for longitudinal data with exogenous exposure.Biostatistics (Oxford, England) · 2016Article
- A unification of mediation and interaction: a 4-way decomposition.Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2014Article
- A counterfactual approach to bias and effect modification in terms of response types.BMC medical research methodology · 2013Article
- A three-way decomposition of a total effect into direct, indirect, and interactive effects.Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2013Article
- Long working hours and metabolic syndrome among Japanese men: a cross-sectional study.BMC public health · 2012Article
- Social and geographic inequalities in premature adult mortality in Japan: a multilevel observational study from 1970 to 2005.BMJ open · 2012Article
- Subtleties of explanatory language: what is meant by "mediation"?European journal of epidemiology · 2011Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The assessment of mediation and mechanism is one way to more deeply explore cause-effect relationships, providing a stronger test and explanation of the observed associations. Most previous studies have described direct and indirect effects in terms of potential outcomes and response types, exploring mediation analysis in the counterfactual (= potential-outcome) framework. A recent paper by Hafeman (Eur J Epidemiol 23(11):711-721, 2008) provided a conceptual description of mediation in the sufficient-component cause framework, and VanderWeele (Eur J Epidemiol 24(5):217-224, 2009) explored the distinctions and relationships between the concepts of mediation and mechanism. This study builds on this prior work and demonstrates that further insight can be given by elucidating the concepts of mediation and mechanism in the sufficient-component cause framework, distinguishing their operation from presence. The careful consideration of the concepts of mediation and mechanism can clarify the relationship between them. Then, the present article describes how investigators can identify mediation as well as mechanism by showing their correspondence with direct and indirect effects in the counterfactual framework. This study also demonstrates how a researcher can decompose the total effect into the effect due to mediated paths and the effect due to non-mediated paths in terms of the probabilities of background factors of sufficient causes.
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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.