Dictionary of Environmental Health
The phenomenon whereby a circumstance occurs as a result of an action or activity, i.e. one is caused by the other.
In epidemiology the question of causality is important since statistical associations do not, of themselves, prove a link between two events or occurrences: they simply show the potential for a link. For much investigative epidemiology causality often cannot be directly proven; instead one must take into account plausibility (i.e. the likelihood of one occurrence having caused the other).
See also: BRADFORD-HILL CRITERIA
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