Contrasting Theories of Interaction in Epidemiology and Toxicology

摘要

BACKGROUND: Epidemiologists and toxicologists face similar problems when assessing inter-actions between exposures, yet they approach the question very differently. The epidemiologic definition of "inter-action" leads to the additivity of risk differences (RDA) as the fundamental criterion for causal inference about biological inter-actions. Toxicologists define "inter-action" as departure from a model based on mode of action: concentration addition (CA; for similarly acting compounds) or independent action (IA; for compounds that act differently).