Applying Bradford Hill's criteria for causation to neuropsychiatry: Challenges and opportunities

Establishing an argument of causation is an important research activity wit h major clinical and scientific implications. Sir Austin Bradford Hill prop osed criteria to establish such an argument. These criteria include the str ength of the association, consistency, specificity, temporal sequence, biol ogical gradient, biologic rationale, coherence, experimental evidence, and analogous evidence. These criteria are reviewed with the goal of facilitati ng an increase in rigor for establishing arguments of causation in neuropsy chiatry. The challenges and opportunities related to these criteria in neur opsychiatry are reviewed, as are two important arguments for causation: one for poststroke depression and one for brain injury as a cause of psychiatr ic disorders.