{"doi":"10.2174/1874297101205010018","title":"Confounding in Observational Studies Explained","abstract":"<jats:p>Practical and ethical constraints mean that many clinical and/or epidemiological questions cannot be answered\nthrough the implementation of a randomized controlled trial. Under these circumstances, observational studies are often\nrequired to assess relationships between certain exposures and disease outcomes. Unfortunately, observational studies are\nnotoriously vulnerable to the effect of different types of “confounding,” a concept that is often a source of confusion\namong trainees, clinicians and users of health information. This article discusses the concept of confounding by way of\nexamples and offers a simple guide for assessing the impact of is effects for learners of evidence-based medicine.</jats:p>","journal":"The Open Epidemiology Journal","year":2012,"id":17815,"datarank":0.5649829700561053,"base_score":2.0794415416798357,"endowment":2.0794415416798357,"self_citation_contribution":0.31191623125197543,"citation_network_contribution":0.2530667388041299,"self_endowment_contribution":0.31191623125197543,"citer_contribution":0.2530667388041299,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":7,"citer_count":7,"citers_with_citation_signal":5,"citers_with_endowment":5,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":126108,"name":"Evan Wood","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":126107,"name":"Bikaramjit Mann","orcid":null,"position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"base_score":2.0794415416798357,"endowment":2.0794415416798357,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"21071399","pmcid":null,"openalex_id":"https://openalex.org/W1964561326","authors":[],"funders":[],"total_grants":0,"fwci":0.506,"citation_percentile":0.653136,"influential_citations":0,"citation_trend":[{"year":2015,"count":2},{"year":2016,"count":1},{"year":2017,"count":1},{"year":2024,"count":2},{"year":2026,"count":1}],"oa_status":"gold","license":"cc-by","oa_locations":[{"url":"https://openepidemiologyjournal.com/VOLUME/5/PAGE/18/PDF/","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://openepidemiologyjournal.com/VOLUME/5/PAGE/18/PDF/","host_type":"GOLD"},{"url":"https://openepidemiologyjournal.com/VOLUME/5/PAGE/18/PDF/","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://openepidemiologyjournal.com/contents/volumes/V5/TOEPIJ-5-18/TOEPIJ-5-18.pdf","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://openepidemiologyjournal.com/contents/volumes/V5/TOEPIJ-5-18/TOEPIJ-5-18.xml","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://doi.org/10.2174/1874297101205010018","host_type":"journal"}],"fields_of_study":["Bone and Joint Diseases","Bone health and treatments","Folate and B Vitamins Research","Medicine","Education"],"mesh_terms":[],"keywords":["Observational study","Confounding","Confusion","Randomized controlled trial","Epidemiology","Psychology","Medicine","Pathology"],"sdg_mappings":[{"sdg_number":0,"sdg_label":"Good health and well-being"}],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-06-03T01:27:27.158093Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}