Can Cohort Studies Determine Causation?

Cohort studies provide the best information about the causation of disease, because you follow persons from exposure to the occurrence of the disease. With data from cohort studies you can calculate cumulative incidences, which are the most direct measurement of the risk of developing disease.

Can a cohort study demonstrate causation?

Because exposure is identified before the outcome, cohort studies have a temporal framework to assess causality and thus have the potential to provide the strongest scientific evidence.

What study can prove causation?

In order to prove causation we need a randomised experiment. We need to make random any possible factor that could be associated, and thus cause or contribute to the effect. There is also the related problem of generalizability. If we do have a randomised experiment, we can prove causation.