Criteria of Causal Association in Epidemiology

Abstract

Epidemiology may be defined as the science of occurrence of disease. One ultimate goal in this science is to detect causes of disease for the purpose of prevention. A discussion of the concept of causes is beyond the scope of this presentation. It suffices to note that the objective of epidemiology implies that, to be of practical use, causes must be such that their elimination has a positive effect on the disease occurrence, i.e., that it decreases the incidence rates. Obviously this means that epidemiologic research is focused on so-called contributing or component, rather than necessary or sufficient, causes.