Instituto de Matemática, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, Bahia.
Cad Saude Publica. 2010 Dec;26(12):2251-62. doi: 10.1590/s0102-311x2010001200004.
Structural equation modeling (SEM) is an important statistical tool for evaluating complex relations in several research areas. In epidemiology, the use and discussion of SEM have been limited thus far. This article presents basic principles and concepts in SEM, including an application using epidemiological data analysis from a study on the determinants of cognitive development in young children, considering constructs related to organization of the child's home environment, parenting style, and the child's health status. The relations between the constructs and cognitive development were measured. The results showed a positive association between psychosocial stimulus at home and cognitive development in young children. The article presents the contributions by SEM to epidemiology, highlighting the need for an a priori theoretical model for improving the study of epidemiological questions from a new perspective.
结构方程模型（SEM）是评估多个研究领域复杂关系的重要统计工具。在流行病学中，到目前为止，SEM 的使用和讨论还很有限。本文介绍了 SEM 的基本原理和概念，包括使用儿童认知发展决定因素研究中的流行病学数据分析进行应用，该研究考虑了与儿童家庭环境组织、育儿风格和儿童健康状况相关的结构。测量了结构之间与认知发展的关系。结果表明，家庭中的心理社会刺激与幼儿的认知发展呈正相关。本文介绍了 SEM 对流行病学的贡献，强调需要一个先验的理论模型，从新的视角改进对流行病学问题的研究。
