Extract
A group of researchers revealed a strong correlation between the sales of ice cream and the number of deaths by drowning, and asserted that they searched the data and did not discover any confounding variables. They went on to conclude that the relationship was causal, indicating that ice cream sales could be altered to reduce the number of drowning incidents. Most readers concurred with the researchers, given the gravity of drowning, and enthusiastically endorsed the study.
Tweetable abstract
Confounding cannot be ignored in any observational design: comment on the ERJ paper by C.J. Reynolds and co-workers https://bit.ly/3oueVrx
Footnotes
Conflict of interest: R. Kumar has no potential conflicts of interest to disclose.
- Received May 1, 2023.
- Accepted May 18, 2023.
- Copyright ©The authors 2023. For reproduction rights and permissions contact permissions{at}ersnet.org
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Vol 62 Issue 1
Table of Contents
Confounding cannot be ignored in any observational design
