Relationship between traffic related air pollution particle exposure and asthma exacerbations: association or causation?

Clinicians are often asked about articles in the media proclaiming new and unexpected causes of disease. Often, these headlines are based not on randomized clinical trials but rather on associations discovered in observational studies. Most clinicians realize that a p-value less than 0.05 does not prove causation but do not necessarily know how to critically judge whether a reported association should be considered to be a true cause of the disease. In 1965, Austin Bradford Hill published "The Environment and Disease: Association or Causation?" 1.

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