Bours Martijn J L
Department of Epidemiology, GROW School for Oncology & Reproduction, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
J Clin Epidemiol. 2023 Nov;163:117-121. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2023.09.005. Epub 2023 Sep 18.
Effect modification and interaction are key concepts within epidemiologic research. They refer to situations where the magnitude and/or direction of the causal effect of some exposure variable on an outcome depends on the level of a second variable (effect modification) or on the effect of a second variable (interaction). Interest in case of effect modification is primarily in one exposure variable, with its effects varying across subgroups, whereas primary interest in case of interaction is in the interplay of effects of two exposure variables. Distinctions between the concepts of effect modification and interaction are subtle. The goal of this article is to clarify these distinctions by using the concept of mediation, which focuses on elucidating mechanisms of causal effects.
效应修饰和交互作用是流行病学研究中的关键概念。它们指的是某些暴露变量对结局的因果效应的大小和/或方向取决于第二个变量的水平（效应修饰）或第二个变量的效应（交互作用）的情况。效应修饰情况下的关注点主要在于一个暴露变量，其效应在不同亚组中有所不同，而交互作用情况下的主要关注点在于两个暴露变量效应之间的相互作用。效应修饰和交互作用概念之间的区别很细微。本文的目的是通过使用中介概念来阐明这些区别，中介概念侧重于阐明因果效应的机制。
