title: From causal diagrams to birth weight-specific curves of infant mortality.
abstract: This report explores the low birth weight paradox using two graphical approaches: causal directed acyclic graphs (DAGs), and the empirical curves of the birth weight distribution and birth weight-specific mortality. The birth weight curves are able to represent the associations quantitatively, while the corresponding causal DAGs provide a set of plausible explanations for the findings. Taken together, these two approaches can facilitate discussion of underlying biological mechanisms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA. shernan@hsph.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hernández-Díaz
authors.forename: Allen J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Wilcox
authors.forename: Enrique F
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Schisterman
authors.forename: Miguel A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Hernán
mesh_terms: D015986:Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007226:Infant Mortality; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D018811:Maternal Exposure; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology