"Triangulation of evidence: strengthening causal inference in observational epidemiology"
Abstract:
Many observational data analyses attempt to contribute to causal inference with respect to potentially modifiable causes of disease. I will suggest that there is no single study, study design or analytical method which guarantees findings will be reliable, and that a range of methods – each with different potential biases, but biases which are (ideally) orthogonal to each other – should be utilised.
Professor George Davey Smith is a clinical epidemiologist whose research has pioneered (1) understanding of the causes and alleviation of health inequalities; (2) lifecourse epidemiology (3) systematic reviewing of evidence of effectiveness of health care and health policy interventions (4) population health contributions of the new genetics.