The Concept of Causation and some common Epidemiological study Designs

Abstract

Epidemiology in its modern form is a relatively new discipline and uses quantitative methods to study diseases in human populations to inform prevention and control efforts [7]. Causation is an essential concept in epidemiology (Figure 1) [7] yet there is no single, clearly articulated definition for the discipline. Causal inference may be viewed as a special case of the more general process of scientific reasoning, about which there is substantial scholarly debate among scientists and philosophers.