Web of Causation and Epidemiology

Web of Causation and Epidemiology:
What is epidemiology and its causation ?

        Basic epidemiology always deals with the cause of the disease, the targeted population, potential health hazards and a directed approach to study the relationship between the exposure and the effect. An epidemiologic study never predicts the exact cause of a disease in each and every individual. On the contrary, it determines the relationship between various risk factors that could give rise to a disease in a population upon exposure. These relationships are based on average-statistical data.

        A cause could be defined as a condition that plays a significant role in the occurrence of a disease. It is often difficult to find causes for health-related events or chronic disease as they are multiple and heterogeneous. All these factors collectively form the “web of causation”, where every cause is interconnected. Occurrence of a disease in a population might be due to phenotypic similarities, micro-organisms, genetic abnormalities, social structure, behavioral patterns, environmental issues, working places and other associated factors. Exposure to different factors might generate different outcomes. Even different individuals within the same population might acquire a disease due to different causal pathways.

        Web of causation continues to be the biggest limitation in an epidemiology study. However, these causes are studied through two different approaches, which include the experimental way and the observational method. Experimental studies are conducted through randomized community trials, where individuals with similar traits are compared so as to evaluate the outcome due to exposure to a cause. However, experimental studies are not possible for a great number of problems. In these situations, observational analysis of a cause is done so as to determine the association with the disease.

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