HLTH333 Study Guide - Final Guide: Causal Inference, Ecological Fallacy, Ecological Study

• School: University of Waterloo
• Department: Health Studies
• Course: HLTH333
• Professor: Mark Oremus

Document Summary

What is a cause: a factor or combination of factors that play an important role in producing the outcome (disease) Implication is that factor(s) somehow lead(s) to an outcome (produce an outcome: causation is more than just association, not just a correlation or spurious association. Un found infant mortality rate to be positively associated with governmental failure, but dying children do not cause governments to fall. Positive association between ice cream consumption and homicide rates (actually, both are associated with hot weather, not one another [confounding]: the factor causes the outcome. However, other causes acting alone can also lead to the disease. E -----------> d: assessment of causation is based on multiple sources of evidence (not just on the findings of one study) Clinical observations: available data (ecological or cross-sectional studies) Cohort studies: randomized trials (only used for potentially beneficial treatments) Measure air quality in montr al and vancouver. Estimate incidence of copd in both cities.