Establishing a causal link between social relationships and health using the Bradford Hill Guidelines
An abundance of evidence suggests that the size and quality of our social relationships improves humans' physical and mental health while increasing lifespan. However most of this evidence comes from observational rather than experimental (randomised trial) evidence, leaving open the possibilit...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2019-08-01
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| Series: | SSM: Population Health |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352827318303501 |
| _version_ | 1818433531242610688 |
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| author | Jeremy Howick Paul Kelly Mike Kelly |
| author_facet | Jeremy Howick Paul Kelly Mike Kelly |
| author_sort | Jeremy Howick |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | An abundance of evidence suggests that the size and quality of our social relationships improves humans' physical and mental health while increasing lifespan. However most of this evidence comes from observational rather than experimental (randomised trial) evidence, leaving open the possibility that the connection between social relationships and health could be associational rather than causal. However there are examples, including the link between smoking and lung cancer, where a cause was established without experimental evidence. This was sometimes achieved by looking at the totality of evidence, using the ‘Bradford Hill Guidelines’, which considers factors including the strength of association, reversibility, and evidence of a plausible mechanism. In this paper we apply the Bradford Hill Guidelines to the link between social relationships and health. We conclude that having strong and supportive social relationships causes better health and longer life. Beyond establishing that social relationships are a causal factor for health, the method we used here can be applied to other areas where randomised trials are unethical or not feasible. Keywords: Social relationships, Social networks, Health, Bradford Hill, Causation, Experiment, Evidence-based medicine, Randomised trial, Urban planning |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-14T16:22:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b6970d69b11048cc95ca9af159bcb489 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2352-8273 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T16:22:34Z |
| publishDate | 2019-08-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | SSM: Population Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-b6970d69b11048cc95ca9af159bcb4892022-12-21T22:54:46ZengElsevierSSM: Population Health2352-82732019-08-018Establishing a causal link between social relationships and health using the Bradford Hill GuidelinesJeremy Howick0Paul Kelly1Mike Kelly2University of Oxford, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Science, Faculty of Philosophy, 32 Woodstock Road, Oxford, OX2 6GG, United Kingdom; Corresponding author.University of Edinburgh, Sport, Physical Education and Health Sciences (SPEHS), Moray House School of Education, United KingdomUniversity of Cambridge, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, United KingdomAn abundance of evidence suggests that the size and quality of our social relationships improves humans' physical and mental health while increasing lifespan. However most of this evidence comes from observational rather than experimental (randomised trial) evidence, leaving open the possibility that the connection between social relationships and health could be associational rather than causal. However there are examples, including the link between smoking and lung cancer, where a cause was established without experimental evidence. This was sometimes achieved by looking at the totality of evidence, using the ‘Bradford Hill Guidelines’, which considers factors including the strength of association, reversibility, and evidence of a plausible mechanism. In this paper we apply the Bradford Hill Guidelines to the link between social relationships and health. We conclude that having strong and supportive social relationships causes better health and longer life. Beyond establishing that social relationships are a causal factor for health, the method we used here can be applied to other areas where randomised trials are unethical or not feasible. Keywords: Social relationships, Social networks, Health, Bradford Hill, Causation, Experiment, Evidence-based medicine, Randomised trial, Urban planninghttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352827318303501 |
| spellingShingle | Jeremy Howick Paul Kelly Mike Kelly Establishing a causal link between social relationships and health using the Bradford Hill Guidelines SSM: Population Health |
| title | Establishing a causal link between social relationships and health using the Bradford Hill Guidelines |
| title_full | Establishing a causal link between social relationships and health using the Bradford Hill Guidelines |
| title_fullStr | Establishing a causal link between social relationships and health using the Bradford Hill Guidelines |
| title_full_unstemmed | Establishing a causal link between social relationships and health using the Bradford Hill Guidelines |
| title_short | Establishing a causal link between social relationships and health using the Bradford Hill Guidelines |
| title_sort | establishing a causal link between social relationships and health using the bradford hill guidelines |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352827318303501 |
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