ABSTRACT
Analysis of causal processes and identification of causal factors is central in medicine and many other medical related sciences. In etiology, the investigator is usually looking for the causal factors of a certain disease in order to get a better understanding of the underlying pathological process and to improve the patient’s situation. The reliability of the assessment of a cause-effect relationship depends on the protocol of the experiment, the inclusion and exclusion criteria, and the actions which try to minimize the different kinds of biases. The test for a causal relationship is preferably performed by an experiment. Individuals are assigned to different groups according to a defined protocol. Many philosophers have reflected on special issues for causality assessment. A prospective randomized controlled trial, which is a special form of a cohort study, is the gold standard for the experimental design in causality analysis.
