DEATH BY PROXY - ETHICS AND CLASSIFICATION IN EPIDEMIOLOGY

Epidemiology is reductionist in that it usually relies on creating cat egories of people or risk factors. Classification must be undertaken a s part of any study, however by the act of choosing groups, individual s 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 i nterest, (b) the implications for individuals when consigned to groups and (c) the implications for epidemiology. (C) 1998 Published by Else vier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.