Attributing diseases to multiple pathways: a causal-pie modeling approach

Abstract

Characterizing the relations between exposures and diseases is the central tenet of epidemiology. Researchers may want to evaluate exposure-disease causation by assessing whether the disease under concern is induced by the various exposures - the so-called "attribution". In this paper, the authors propose a method to attribute diseases to multiple pathways based on the causal-pie model. The method can also be used to evaluate the potential impact of an intervention strategy and to allocate responsibility in tort-law liability issues.