Invited Commentary: What Social Epidemiology Brings to the Table-Reconciling Social Epidemiology and Causal Inference

摘要

In response to the Galea and Hernan article, "Win-Win: Reconciling Social Epidemiology and Causal Inference" (Am J Epidemiol. 2020;189(3):167-170), we offer a definition of social epidemiology. We then argue that methodological challenges most salient to social epidemiology have not been adequately addressed in quantitative causal inference, that identifying causes is a worthy scientific goal, and that quantitative causal inference can learn from social epidemiology's methodological innovations. Finally, we make 3 recommendations for quantitative causal inference.