Bradford Hill criteria

Bradford Hill criteria

The Bradford Hill criteria, also known as Hill's criteria for causation, are a group of minimal conditions necessary to provide adequate evidence of a causal relationship between an incidence and a consequence. Named after the British medical statistician Sir Austin Bradford Hill, these criteria are widely used in medicine and health research to determine the causal link between a specific factor (like a drug or treatment) and a health outcome.

Pronunciation

• Bradford: /ˈbrædfərd/
• Hill: /hɪl/
• Criteria: /kraɪˈtɪəriə/

Etymology

The Bradford Hill criteria are named after Sir Austin Bradford Hill, a British medical statistician who is credited with having developed them.

Criteria

The Bradford Hill criteria include the following nine aspects:

1. Strength of Association: The stronger the association between the exposure and the outcome, the more likely it is that the exposure is causing the outcome.
2. Consistency: The observed association is consistently found in different studies and under different circumstances.
3. Specificity: The exposure is associated specifically with the outcome, not with other outcomes.
4. Temporality: The exposure precedes the outcome in time.
5. Biological Gradient: There is a dose-response curve showing that the incidence of the outcome increases with an increase in exposure.
6. Plausibility: The observed association is explainable by existing knowledge about possible biological mechanisms of the disease, which may be alterable.
7. Coherence: The observed association does not seriously conflict with the generally known facts of the natural history and biology of the disease.
8. Experiment: The condition can be altered, either prevented or accelerated, by an experimental regimen.
9. Analogy: Effect of similar factors may be considered.

Related Terms

• Epidemiology
• Causality
• Medical Statistics
• Public Health
• Etiology
• Risk Factor

See Also

• Koch's postulates
• Evidence-based medicine
• Epidemiological methods

External links

• Medical encyclopedia article on Bradford Hill criteria
• Wikipedia's article - Bradford Hill criteria

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