FOUNDATIONAL TERM

Confounding

混杂

The influence of other factors becomes mixed with the exposure–outcome relationship, complicating causal interpretation.

Study this concept in context

07 · How Health Research Works: Experiments, Observation, and Causation

A study finds that regular walkers are healthier. Does walking make the difference, or are healthier people more able to walk regularly? Good research uses careful comparisons to distinguish these explanations.

42 · Nutrition research, labels and health claims

Nutrition advertising often turns a true statement about an ingredient into an untested promise about health. This lesson translates such promises into testable questions and distinguishes the roles of research, labeling, and regulation.

90 · How epidemiology studies disease in populations

Case counts become informative through denominators, time, and credible comparison. Hypothetical data illustrate prevalence, incidence risk, and association measures, while study design, bias, confounding, and causal reasoning explain what conclusions are justified.

Sources

Definitions come from the published lessons. Read the linked lesson for mechanisms, conditions and examples.