Innovation, or reverse causation?

Innovation, or reverse causation?

L ongitudinal, multi-year cohort studies with large numbers of participants offer the only scientific possibility of clearly identifying the causes of childhood asthma (setting aside, for the moment, the difficulties in defining it). While the goal of these studies is clear, the exposure variables tested in them are often not well defined, and their main result is the generation of hypotheses w...

Benzodiazepines and risk of dementia: true association or reverse causation?

According to a recently published population study conducted in France, exposure to benzodiazepines may be associated with an approximately 50% increase in the risk of dementia in the elderly. However, the clinical interpretation of this finding raised some concerns. A causal link between benzodiazepine use and diagnosis of dementia may be real, but it is nevertheless possible that the increase...

Reverse innovation in global health systems: towards global innovation flow

The global flow of knowledge, skills, and ideas has been a defining feature of human progress. Different regions and peoples have contributed to and, indeed, led innovation development at various times in human history. From Africa to Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, the current body of knowledge on these diverse contributions to human science and medicine is expanding [1]. For example...

Guns and Suicide: Correlation or Causation?

Otosclerosis and measles virus - association or causation?

Otosclerosis is a frequent condition which occurs exclusively in the human temporal bone. This peculiar disease affects mainly Caucasians and Indians and may cause conductive, mixed conductive-sensorineural or occasionally merely sensorineural hearing loss. Morphological investigations of the otosclerotic focus show all three phases of a chronic inflammation with bone resorption, formation of n...