Establishing a causal link between social relationships and health using the Bradford Hill Guidelines.

ABSTRACT: An abundance of evidence suggests that the size and quality of our social relationships improves humans' physical and mental health while increasing lifespan. However most of this evidence comes from observational rather than experimental (randomised trial) evidence, leaving open the possibility that the connection between social relationships and health could be associational rather than causal. However there are examples, including the link between smoking and lung cancer, where a cause was established without experimental evidence. This was sometimes achieved by looking at the totality of evidence, using the 'Bradford Hill Guidelines', which considers factors including the strength of association, reversibility, and evidence of a plausible mechanism. In this paper we apply the Bradford

SUBMITTER: Howick J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6527915 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature