Physical Activity and Health

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Questions and Answers

What is the primary goal when selecting a minimally sufficient set S?

To reduce confounding variables (correct)
To minimize the number of variables
To include all possible variables
To establish a causal relationship between variables

What is the purpose of creating a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG)?

To identify confounding variables
To identify the causal effect of a variable
To predict the outcome of an intervention
To visualize the relationships between variables (correct)

Why is it important to consider district zoning laws when modeling health disparities?

Because they affect access to healthy food (correct)
Because they are a confounding variable
Because they influence physical activity
Because they are a source of income

What is an example of a social determinant of health?

Access to healthy food (C) Signup and view all the answers

What is the term for a variable that can affect both the exposure and outcome, causing bias in the estimate of the causal effect?

Confounding variable (C) Signup and view all the answers

What happens if we forget to include important ancestors in our DAG?

The DAG becomes biased (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is the term for a variable that is caused by the exposure and also affects the outcome?

Mediator (D) Signup and view all the answers

Why is it important to consider multiple possible sets S when selecting a minimally sufficient set?

To ensure that all possible sets S are identified (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the focus of the research question in the given example?

Effect of neighborhood violence on cardiovascular disease (A) Signup and view all the answers

What type of paths are the direct path from neighborhood violence to cardiovascular disease and the path mediated by physical activity?

Causal paths (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the role of physical activity in the given example?

It is a mediator between neighborhood violence and cardiovascular disease (A) Signup and view all the answers

What type of variables are income, race, and ethnicity in the given example?

Confounding variables (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the main objective of drawing a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) in this context?

To identify the confounding variables between neighborhood violence and cardiovascular disease (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is the term for the unfair and avoidable differences in health outcomes that are influenced by the social determinants of health?

Health inequities (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the main issue with only conditioning on income in the example?

It does not account for race/ethnicity (C) Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of using a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) in this example?

To visualize the complex relationships between social determinants of health (C) Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following is a social determinant of health?

Access to healthy food (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the main limitation of conditioning on income and race/ethnicity?

It does not capture the complete causal pathway (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the main contribution of social epidemiology to our understanding of health disparities?

Demonstrating the relationship between social determinants and health outcomes (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the role of confounding variables in the example?

They are the variables that affect the relationship between the variables of interest (C) Signup and view all the answers

What does the example illustrate about the relationship between health disparities and social determinants?

Health disparities are the result of a complex interplay between social determinants (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the main takeaway from the example regarding the definition of health disparities?

Health disparities are the result of a complex interplay between social determinants (D) Signup and view all the answers

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Study Notes

The example explores the relationship between neighborhood violence and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk.
Income and physical activity are considered as potential variables in defining the relationship between neighborhood violence and CVD risk.

Insufficient Conditioning

Conditioning on income alone is insufficient to establish a relationship between neighborhood violence and CVD risk.
Conditioning on race/ethnicity and income is also insufficient to establish a relationship between neighborhood violence and CVD risk.
Conditioning on income and physical activity is similarly insufficient to establish a relationship between neighborhood violence and CVD risk.

Minimally Sufficient Set

The combination of income and race/ethnicity is a minimally sufficient set of variables to establish a relationship between neighborhood violence and CVD risk.

Choosing Between Sets

Two possible sets of minimally sufficient variables to measure the relationship between neighborhood violence and CVD risk are:
- Income and race/ethnicity
- Income and physical activity

DAG Errors

Errors in the Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) can affect the outcome of the analysis.
Forgetting important ancestors (variables) can lead to errors in the DAG.

Research Question

The research question is: What is the effect of neighborhood violence on the risk of cardiovascular diseases?

Causal Paths

Two causal paths exist between exposure (neighborhood violence) and outcome (CVD risk):
- Direct path from violence to CVD risk
- Path mediated by physical activity
Three backdoor (biasing) paths exist that can affect the analysis.

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