Estudios ecológicos: herramienta clave para la salud pública
Ecological studies: a key tool for public health
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15446/rsap.v23n6.94546Palabras clave:
Salud pública, epidemiología, estudios ecológicos, falacia ecológica (es)Public health, epidemiology, ecological studies, ecological fallacy (en)
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Los estudios ecológicos (EE) frecuentemente son analizados con actitud escéptica por investigadores, por considerar que las asociaciones obtenidas en estudios de tipo indi vidual presentan mayor nivel de evidencia científica que las referidas en los estudios poblacionales. Además, se argumenta que solo son utilizados para generar o probar hipótesis etiológicas. Sin embargo, los EE constituyen una alternativa útil para el abordaje de determinantes contextuales, ya que las variables agrupadas proporcionan información sobre atributos no captados por las variables individuales. Esta particularidad facilita la incorporación de los EE en estudios multinivel o contextuales de gran utilidad en la salud pública. Sobre estos fundamentos, se sustenta el propósito del presente ensayo en el cual se señalan los desafíos y las oportunidades presentes y futuras de los EE como herramienta clave para el cumplimiento de las funciones de la salud pública.
Ecological studies (ES) are frequently analyzed with a skeptical attitude by researchers, who consider that the associations obtained in individual-level studies present a higher grade of scientific evidence than those referred to in population studies. Furthermore, it is argued that ES are only used to generate or test etiological hypotheses. However, ES are a useful alternative for addressing contextual determinants since grouped variables provide information on attributes that are not captured by individual variables. This particularity facilitates the incorporation of ES in multilevel or contextual studies of great utility in public health. The purpose of this paper is based on these foundations, in which the present and future challenges and opportunities of ES as a key tool for the fulfillment of public health functions are pointed out.
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