A framework for causal inference in occupational epidemiology

The observational nature of occupational epidemiology research is a reason for potentially divergent interpretation of the causal nature of the results of studies addressing the association between an exposure and a disease. There is a need for frameworks that explicitly define the steps involved in this process of deriving causal inference from occupational epidemiology. A recent proposal consisted of the following steps: (i) study identification, (ii) quality assessment and categorization, (iii) evaluation of the weight of the evidence, and (iv) assignment of a scalable conclusion. While other approaches can be proposed, efforts to improve the quality and transparency of the process are helpful and represent a contribution to this essential component of occupational epidemiology research.