Plant A J, Rushworth R L
Department of Public Health, Clifton St. Campus, University of Western Australia, Australia.
Soc Sci Med. 1998 Nov;47(9):1147-53. doi: 10.1016/s0277-9536(98)00186-5.
Epidemiology is reductionist in that it usually relies on creating categories of people or risk factors. Classification must be undertaken as part of any study, however by the act of choosing groups, individuals are (potentially) consigned to either a higher or lower risk group. We discuss this from an ethical perspective and consider: (a) whether the groupings commonly chosen genuinely represent the risk factor of interest, (b) the implications for individuals when consigned to groups and (c) the implications for epidemiology.
流行病学是还原论的，因为它通常依赖于对人群或风险因素进行分类。分类必须作为任何研究的一部分来进行，然而，通过选择组别的行为，个体（可能）被归入风险较高或较低的组。我们从伦理角度对此进行讨论，并考虑：（a）通常选择的分组是否真正代表了感兴趣的风险因素，（b）个体被归入这些组时的影响，以及（c）对流行病学的影响。
