Association is not causation - even with big datadoi:https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.j909BMJ
Life-course studies including the same memory measures repeated over time in different age cohorts provide information on when sex differences in memory begin to emerge, or to detect the factors that are associated with this emergence. Understanding sex differences in specific risk factors and their ...
Many methods have been developed to leverage expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) data to nominate candidate genes from genome-wide association studies. These methods, including colocalization, transcriptome-wide association studies (TWAS) and Mende
Additionally, there is a possibility of reverse causation, where changes in dietary intake and nutritional status occur when individuals begin to experience symptoms of illness. Due to the demographic makeup of our sample, which is mainly made up of people from the United States, it is uncertain...
In sensitivity analyses, these estimates were materially unchanged after further adjustments and removal of recently bereaved participants, and we did not find evidence of reverse causation (eResults 2 in the Supplement). Associations with incident heart failure (HR, 1.09; 95% CI, 0.86-1.31), ...
However, the relatively long mean period from fitness measure to Medicare observation makes such reverse causation less likely. Conclusions This study shows that being fit at midlife is associated with a lower risk of later-life depression and subsequent CVD mortality, even in the presence of ...
Moreover, the cross-sectional nature of this study could not specify the direction of causation. Pru- dence should be observed when the results of this study are generalized. Abbreviations TB: Tuberculosis; MTB: Mycobacteria tuberculosis; NCDs: Non-communicable diseases; DM: D; : iabetes ...
With regard to reverse causation, children with greater cognitive abilities may engage in more conversation, exhibit greater interest in learning, ask more questions, and exhibit faster learning than children with lower abilities. Indeed, several longitudinal studies suggest that children with greater cogn...
Lichtenstein P, Holm NV, Verkasalo PK, Iliadou A, Kaprio J, Koskenvuo M, Pukkala E, Skytthe A, Hemminki K: Environmental and heritable factors in the causation of cancer-analyses of cohorts of twins from Sweden, Denmark, and Finland. N Engl J Med. 2000, 343: 78-85. 10.1056/NEJM...
Limitations still existed despite the MR design being less susceptible to bias from confounding factors and reverse causation than observational studies. First, potential pleiotropy could not be ruled out, but it was unlikely to change the conclusion in a clinically meaningful way. Second, population ...