Causes and Prevention

.n important aim in epidemiology is not -only to lentify causes of diseases but also to quantify their nportance to society. However, to identify and uantify causes one needs an idea of the concept of cause” as it relates to research and in daily practice. )ur understanding of causes influences our undertanding of terms like aetiological fractions and meaures of susceptibility. Furthermore, the concept is I f importance in designing studies in epidemiology md for success in the implementation of preventive ictions. It often seems difficult to persuade people o change unhealthy behaviours if our concept of iisease aetiology is in conflict with a common sense :oncept of cause. The concept of cause has long been debated by philosophers. Many claim that it is a waste of time to try to reach a common definition for such a complicated term which we all “understand” anyway. When we step on the brake, the car stops. When we turn on the tap, the water starts running. We see causes as events that precede a given effect in time and the cause-effect relationship is asymmetric. If A then B does not entail, if B then A. If traffic accident then a broken leg does not translate into, if a broken leg then the cause was a traffic accident. Our common sense understanding 01 causes is probably being instilled during our upbringing. When we explored our surrbundings in early childhood we discovered that the light could be turned on by manipulating the light switch in a certain way. Later we realized that the mechanism is a bit more complicated. Pressing the switch is only a cause of turning on the light, which in turn is dependent on a given set of conditions. The electrical power must be on, and the light bulb, and the electrical cord must be in order. We accept that, these conditions (additional component causes) fulfilled, pressing of the switch turns on the light. We have identified a cause and the effect and it always works; if not, we expect to find the reason when examining the other component causes in the causal field.