Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25480822›Full record

ArticleAmerican journal of epidemiology2015

Invited commentary: The virtual epidemiologist—promise and peril.

Ana V Diez Roux

Abstract readComment
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in American journal of epidemiology, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
13citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

13 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Applications of agent-based modeling in trauma research.Psychological trauma : theory, research, practice and policy · 2023
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Dynamical Modeling as a Tool for Inferring Causation.American journal of epidemiology · 2022
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Review
  10. Article
  11. Transdisciplinary approaches enhance the production of translational knowledge.Translational research : the journal of laboratory and clinical medicine · 2017
    Review
  12. Article
  13. Marshall and Galea respond to "data theory in epidemiology".American journal of epidemiology · 2015
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author.

Ana V Diez Roux

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The simulation of complex systems has received increasing attention as a useful approach in epidemiology. As discussed by Marshall and Galea in this issue of the Journal (Am J Epidemiol. 2015;181(2):92-99), systems approaches are appealing because they allow explicit recognition of feedback, interference, adaptation over time, and nonlinearities. However, they differ fundamentally from the traditional approaches to causal inference used in epidemiology in that they involve creation of a virtual world. Systems modeling can help us understand the plausible implications of the knowledge that we have and how pieces can act together in ways that we might not have predicted. It can help us integrate quantitative and qualitative information and explore basic dynamics. It can generate new questions that can be investigated through new observations or experiments. The process of building a systems model forces us to think about dynamic relationships and the ways in which they may play a role in the process we are studying. However, the validity of any causal conclusions derived from systems models hinges on the extent to which the models represent the fundamental dynamics relevant to the process in the real world. For this reason, systems modeling will never replace causal inference based on empirical observation. Causal inference based on empirical observation and simulation modeling serve interrelated but different purposes.

Indexed as

CausalityEpidemiologic MethodsModels, TheoreticalHumanscausal inferencecomplex systemsmethodssimulation

Identifiers

PMID25480822

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.