title: Determining cause and effect in herds.
abstract: This article presents components of the logical process for deter-mining cause and effect and lists common cognitive errors of the medical decision-making process. Individuals who are aware of these errors may be better able to avoid committing them. The first section provides the concepts used in considering cause and effect relationships, the second section provides a logical basis for evaluating cause and effect relationships, and the third section illuminates potential reasoning errors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, AAHP Field Disease Investigation Unit, College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University, Pullman, 99164-6610, USA.
authors.forename: John M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Gay
mesh_terms: D000820:Animal Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D000818:Animals; D015982:Bias; D015984:Causality; D003657:Decision Making; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods / Q000662:veterinary; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D014730:Veterinary Medicine