Questioning the application of risk of bias tools in appraising evidence from natural experimental studies

David K Humphreys, Jenna Panter, David Ogilvie

OAI: oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/264083 • DOI: 10.17863/CAM.9444

We recently read the article by Benton et al. which reviewed risk of bias in natural experimental studies investigating the impact of the built environment on physical activity (Benton et al., 2016; Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 13:107). As a technical exercise in assessing risk of bias to understand study quality, we found the results of this study both interesting and potentially useful. However, it prompted a number of concerns with the use of risk of bias tools for assessing the quality of evidence from studies exploiting natural experiments. As we discuss in this commentary, the rigid application of such tools could have adverse effects on the uptake and use of natural experiments in population health research and practice.

Built environment Natural experiments physical activity Risk of bias Bias Exercise Humans qualitative research Risk Assessment Risk Factors