Causation Flashcards
what is a cause
an event, condition or characteristic without which the disease would not have occurred
what is the goal of causation within epidemiology
to identify causal relationships between disease & exposures
what are the guidelines to causation
- must precede the effect
- can be either positive the presence of an exposure or negative the absence of exposure
- one or multiple causal factors
what does causation guide veterinarian’s approach in
prevention
diagnosis
treatment
what do causal factors lead to
exposure and occurrence of disease
what are the agent factors that impact upon disease occurrence
infection
pathogenic
virulence
what is the ability of the agent to establish itself in a host
infection
what is the ability of an agent to produce disease in a host
pathogenic
what is the measure of severity of disease due to agent
virulence
true or false:
the stronger the association between a presumed causal factor and disease or outcome, the more likely a cause - effect relationship occurs
true
what is the evidence provided reflecting that your exposure or cause preceded the outcome
temporal precedence
what is occurring when the cause-effect relationship can be explained by biological mechanisms
biological plausibilty
what is specificity
the causal relationship is specific, meaning there is only one exposure that causes one outcome
what is supported by any new piece of biological evidence that’s discovered should solidify what is already known about a biological mechanism for a disease
coherence
what is a causal relationship between a cause and an outcome, already established for a similar exposure or disease
analogy
