ReviewAnnual review of public health2017
Natural Experiments: An Overview of Methods, Approaches, and Contributions to Public Health Intervention Research.
Review in Annual review of public health, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 229 papers, 13 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
229 citing papers in PubMed, 13 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Environmental exposures in autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases: a priority-based evidence map, immune-mechanism integration audit and research agenda.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Pooled it
- Impact of structural-level environmental interventions on physical activity: a systematic review.International archives of occupational and environmental health · 2023Pooled it
- The local impacts of coal and oil power plant retirements on air pollution and cardiorespiratory health in California: An application of generalized synthetic control method.Environmental research · 2023Pooled it
- How do income changes impact on mental health and wellbeing for working-age adults? A systematic review and meta-analysis.The Lancet. Public health · 2022Pooled it
- Unconditional cash transfers for reducing poverty and vulnerabilities: effect on use of health services and health outcomes in low- and middle-income countries.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- The effect of patient and prosthesis factors on revision rates after total knee replacement using a multi-registry meta-analytic approach.Acta orthopaedica · 2022Pooled it
- The use of Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) to address causality in complex systems: a systematic review of research on public health interventions.BMC public health · 2021Pooled it
- Taxation of the fat content of foods for reducing their consumption and preventing obesity or other adverse health outcomes.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- Association of Alternative Payment and Delivery Models With Outcomes for Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders: A Systematic Review.JAMA network open · 2020Pooled it
- Using natural experiments to improve public health evidence: a review of context and utility for obesity prevention.Health research policy and systems · 2020Pooled it
- Taxation of unprocessed sugar or sugar-added foods for reducing their consumption and preventing obesity or other adverse health outcomes.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- Social return on investment (SROI) method to evaluate physical activity and sport interventions: a systematic review.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2020Pooled it
- A systematic review of the effect of infrastructural interventions to promote cycling: strengthening causal inference from observational data.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2019Pooled it
- A 7-year prospective analysis of sustained benefits of multicomponent risk assessment and data-driven care in patients with type 2 diabetes: The Malaysian JADE Program.Diabetes, obesity & metabolism · 2025Trial
- Pandemic Effects on Stability of End-of-Life Preferences and Patient-Surrogate Dyad Congruence.Journal of pain and symptom management · 2024Trial
- Mortality Among Patients Undergoing Blood Transfusion in Relation to Donor Sex and Parity: A Natural Experiment.JAMA internal medicine · 2022Trial
- Multi-use physical activity trails in an urban setting and cardiovascular disease: a difference-in-differences analysis of a natural experiment in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2022Trial
- Differences in realized access to healthcare among newly arrived refugees in Germany: results from a natural quasi-experiment.BMC public health · 2020Trial
- Trial
- Proportionate action requires a decision rule.Lancet regional health. Americas · 2026Article
169 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Population health interventions are essential to reduce health inequalities and tackle other public health priorities, but they are not always amenable to experimental manipulation. Natural experiment (NE) approaches are attracting growing interest as a way of providing evidence in such circumstances. One key challenge in evaluating NEs is selective exposure to the intervention. Studies should be based on a clear theoretical understanding of the processes that determine exposure. Even if the observed effects are large and rapidly follow implementation, confidence in attributing these effects to the intervention can be improved by carefully considering alternative explanations. Causal inference can be strengthened by including additional design features alongside the principal method of effect estimation. NE studies often rely on existing (including routinely collected) data. Investment in such data sources and the infrastructure for linking exposure and outcome data is essential if the potential for such studies to inform decision making is to be realized.
Indexed as
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.