Examining associations between physical activity and cardiovascular mortality using negative control outcomes.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The purpose of a negative control is to reproduce a condition that cannot involve the hypothesized causal mechanism, but does involve the same sources of bias and confounding that may distort the primary association of interest. Observational studies suggest physical inactivity is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD), although potential sources of bias, including reverse causation and residual confounding, make it difficult to infer causality. The aim was to employ a negative control outcome to explore the extent to which the association between physical activity and CVD mortality is explained by confounding.

Methods

The sample comprised 104 851 participants (aged 47 ± 17 years; 45.4% male) followed up over mean (SD) 9.4 ± 4.5 years, recruited from

SUBMITTER: Hamer M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6693890 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature