TY - JOUR T1 - Critical appraisal of epidemiological studies and clinical trials JF - Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health JO - J Epidemiol Community Health SP - 279 LP - 280 DO - 10.1136/jech.2007.068643 VL - 62 IS - 3 AU - Miguel Angel Martinez-Gonzalez Y1 - 2008/03/01 UR - http://jech.bmj.com/content/62/3/279.3.abstract N2 - Mark Elwood. Published by Oxford University Press 2007 570 978-0-19-852955-2 The skills to judge the validity of studies dealing with cause and effect relationships critically are a crucial requisite for career development in epidemiology, community medicine or public health.This book proposes a scheme for the critical appraisal of epidemiological studies and trials. This approach starts by describing the methods and results. Then, it considers three possible non-causal explanations: “observation” bias, confounding and chance. This system forces the investigator or the reader to think about the quality of the data and design and to appraise critically whether a truly causal explanation can be accepted. The aim is to build a logical system of critical appraisal, to allow readers to evaluate studies and to carry out their own studies more effectively. … ER -