Letter

Ecological studies are a poor means of testing aetiological hypotheses

BMJ 1998; 317 doi: 10.1136/bmj.317.7159.678 (Published 5 September 1998)
Cite this as: BMJ 1998;317:678.1

Access to the full text of this article requires a subscription or payment. Please log in or subscribe below.

  1. Shah Ebrahim, Professor of clinical epidemiology,
  2. George Davey Smith, Professor of clinical epidemiology
  1. Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, University College London Medical School, London NW3 2PF
  2. Department of Social Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol BS 2PR

    EDITOR—The declines in cardiovascular diseases in Poland, “apparently without precedent in peacetime,”1 are similar to the declines seen in Britain over the same period.2 The table shows secular declines in mortality from cardiovascular diseases in Britain: between 1991 and 1994, death rates from both ischaemic heart disease and stroke fell dramatically, particularly among men at all ages and women aged over 55 years. In Britain these death rates are continuing to fall, in contrast to Poland. Furthermore, as mortality from ischaemic heart disease in Britain plateaued between 1980 and 1985 and then fell, the declines observed between 1985 and …

    Access to the full text of this article requires a subscription or payment

    Subscribe

    Article access

    Article access for 1 day

    Purchase this article for £20 $30 €32*

    The PDF version can be downloaded as your personal record

    * Prices do not include VAT

    Rapid responses

    THIS WEEK'S POLL

    BMJ most popular