Epidemiologic Research Methods and Causal Inference

Assessing the effect of an exposure on outcome requires rigorous methods to rule out random error, confounding, misclassification, and/or selection biases as possible alternative explanations.

• • Dr. Ashenafi S Cherkos
  • Dr. Uyen-Sa D. T. Nguyen
  • Dr. Gregory Knell

• Knell G, Burkhart SO, Gabriel KP. Need to clarify mechanisms explaining the effect of screen time on recovery from concussion. JAMA Pediatrics. Published online 2021 Dec 13; doi: doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.5339.
• Knell G, Robertson MC, Dooley EE, Burford K, Mendez KS. Health behavior changes during COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent “Stay-at-Home” orders. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Aug 28;17(17). doi: 10.3390/ijerph17176268. PubMed PMID: 32872179; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7504386.
• Durand CP, Oluyomi AO, Gabriel KP, Salvo D, Sener IN, Hoelscher DM, Knell G, Tang X, Porter AK, Robertson MC, Kohl III HW. The effect of light rail transit on physical activity: design and methods of the Travel-Related Activity in Neighborhoods Study. Front Public Health. 2016;4:103. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2016.00103. eCollection 2016. PubMed PMID: 27376051; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4899453.
• Choi HK, Nguyen US, Niu J, Danaei G, Zhang Y. Selection bias in rheumatic disease research. Nat Rev Rheumatol. 2014 Jul;10(7):403-12. PMCID: PMC4260806.
• Nguyen UD, Zhang Y, Louie-Gao Q, Niu J, Felson DT,  LaValley MP, Choi HK. The obesity paradox in recurrent attacks of gout in observational studies: Clarifications and remedy. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2017 Apr;69(4):561-566. doi: 10.1002/acr.22954. PubMed PMID: 27331767; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5179319.
• Wang Y, Nguyen UDT, Lane NE, Lu N, Wei J, Lei G, Zeng C, Zhang Y. Knee osteoarthritis, potential mediators, and risk of all-cause mortality: data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative. Arthritis Care & Research (Hoboken). 2020 Jan. doi: 10.1002/acr.24151 Epub 2021 Mar 13. PMID: 31961495; PMCID: PMC8606227.