Establishing causality involves several criteria, often summarized by the Bradford Hill criteria:
1. Strength: Strong associations are more likely to be causal. 2. Consistency: Similar findings across different studies. 3. Specificity: A specific factor leads to a specific disease. 4. Temporality: The cause must precede the effect. 5. Biological Gradient: Dose-response relationship. 6. Plausibility: Biological feasibility. 7. Coherence: Consistency with existing knowledge. 8. Experiment: Evidence from experiments. 9. Analogy: Similar factors in similar conditions.
