Bradford Hill's Criteria Of Disease Causality

Question 1

Who is Bradford Hill? What was his most famous work?

Answer 1

He was an Englih statistitian

• established the connecttion between tabacco and lung cancer
• Studied and described the criteria for causality in medicine

Question 2

List the criteria

Answer 2

Strength of association ; consisteny ; specificity ; temporality ; biological gradient ; plausibility; coherence; experimental support ;

Question 3

Describe: Strength of association

Answer 3

The stonger the association, the more likely a causal componnt

Question 4

Consistency

Answer 4

The association must be present across groups and across population

Question 5

Specificity

Answer 5

There must be a specific end point phenotype

Question 6

Temporality

Answer 6

The causative agent must preceed the outcome

Question 7

Biological gradient

Answer 7

The outcome must be obtained in a dose responsive manner

Question 8

Plausibility

Answer 8

The causal explanation is reconciled with substantive knowledge that exists on the disease in question

Question 9

Experimental support

Answer 9

Randomised clinical trails (which were invented by Bradford Hill)