Calcium antagonists and good results: association 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...

Atherosclerosis, calcium, and calcium antagonists.

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...

Thrombocytopenia and glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors: causation or association?

Inhibitors: Causation or Association? To the Editor: Trials of glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors (GPI) in acute coronary syndromes (ACS) reveal that thrombocytopenia occurs with an incidence of up to 3.7%.1 McClure et al2 confirm the association of thrombocytopenia and ACS and correlate this with adverse bleeding and ischemic events. However, unlike previous studies, they found no association be...

The environment and disease: association or causation? 1965.

In 1965, Austin Bradford Hill published the article "The Environment and Disease: Association or Causation?" in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine. In the article, Hill describes nine criteria to determine if an environmental factor, especially a condition or hazard in a work environment, causes an illness. The article arose from an inaugural presidential address Hill gave at the ...