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Description

Determining the cause of a disease or the positive effect of a health activity is an important part of decision-making in public health. But how do we know if something actually does cause a disease or improve our health? Inferring causality is a step-by-step process requiring a variety of information. In this module, Dr. Victoria Holt discusses seven guidelines to use in determining whether a specific agent or activity causes a health outcome. She illustrates each guideline with a public health example.

Objectives

After completing this module, you should be able to:

• Describe and distinguish between association and causality in epidemiology
• List and describe features of associations that support inferences of causality
• List the principal concerns in inferring causality