Invited commentary: coming out of the box.
The authors apply the analogy of a "black box" from systems theory to epidemiologic problems. They highlight this process using the example of associations between sequential measures of body size and systolic blood pressure. Several other examples of the use of structural equation modeling or path analysis are described. Finally, the authors highlight several requirements for using these methods to "come out of the box."
Factor-Litvak
Pam
P
Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA. prf1@columbia.edu
Sher
Arnold
A
D001724:Birth Weight; D001794:Blood Pressure; D015992:Body Mass Index; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D013598:Systems Theory; D013599:Systole