Topic: Trends in Postpartum Hemorrhage in British Columbia, Canada and other countries

Speaker: Azar Mehrabadi, MSc (PhD candidate)
School of Population and Public Health and the Dept of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, UBC and Perinatal Services BC

Learning objectives - To provide participants with:

• Information on recent developments in the field


• Multidisciplinary perspectives


• Critical analysis of important topics from a substantive and methodologic perspective (through presentation and discussion of Journal articles, etc)


• A forum for discussing research ideas and research in progress

Next Session: October 2012


** The Academic Perinatology Rounds is a self-approved group learning activity (Section 1) as defined by the Maintenance of Certification program of The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada **

For general questions please contact Ariadna Fernandez (Ariadna.Fernandez@phsa.ca)
For suggestions regarding topics for future rounds please contact one of the co-leaders
Patricia Janssen (Patti.Janssen@ubc.ca) or K.S. Joseph (kjoseph@cw.bc.ca)

Objective: To define a new approach to causality determination

Methods: Two distinct research situations are defined: (a) determining a causal connection between past exposure to an established risk factor and an outcome (such as a known carcinogens) in a sick individual, an approach often required in tort litigation, and usually based on published scientific reports; and (b) discovering a new causal connection between an exposure (e.g., an exposure to a substance that is not known as a carcinogen) and an outcome (e.g., occurrence of cancer) in a population, an approach that is appropriate in scientific research. Results and conclusion: Determining causality after exposure of an individual to a known carcinogen requires a retrospective approach, and causality is determined exclusively by a priori knowledge of carcinogenicity and proof of exposure. Conversely, discovering a new causal risk factor requires a forward-directed reasoning and a population approach based on Hills criteria.

Speaker:
Shai Linn is the Dean of the Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences at the University of Haifa, and Director of the Unit of Clinical Epidemiology at Rambam Health Care Campus. After graduating from the Faculty of Medicine at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, he received Master of Public Health (MPH, 1979) and Doctor of Public Health (Dr.P.H., 1981) degrees from Harvard School of Public Health. He was then appointed as a Deputy Director of the Rambam Hospital (1982-1985). This was followed by a fellowship at the U.S. National Institutes of Health in 1985-1986 and selection as Fellow of the American College of Epidemiology. In 1990-1992 Dr. Linn received the prestigious MacArthur – SSRC Fellowship, and was appointed as a Visiting Professor of Epidemiology at the Department of Health Care and Epidemiology of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC.

Dr. Linn's main research interests are epidemiological methodology and environmental health.


Key words: Causality, Directionality, Environment, Epidemiology, Methodology, Study Design, Timing

David Diaz Sanchez, PhD, Chief, Clinical Research Branch, US Environmental Protection Agency