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Enum: EnvironmentalCausalRoleEnum

How strongly an environmental exposure determines the disease, as distinct from which way it acts. Pairs with Environmental.disease_effect, which carries the direction.

URI: dismech:enum/EnvironmentalCausalRoleEnum

Permissible Values

Value Meaning Description Additional Info
NECESSARY None The disease does not occur without this exposure, though the exposure alone i... Title: Necessary cause
SUFFICIENT None The exposure alone produces the disease in a susceptible host, without requir... Title: Sufficient cause
COMPONENT_CAUSE None The exposure is one required member of a set of causes that together produce ... Title: Component cause
RISK_FACTOR None The exposure raises or lowers disease incidence in populations, with a causal... Title: Risk factor
MODIFIER None The exposure alters the course, severity, or expression of disease that is al... Title: Modifier
ASSOCIATED_ONLY None A reported statistical association whose causal status is unsettled or unevid... Title: Associated only

Slots

Name Description
causal_role How strongly this exposure determines the disease

Comments

  • PROPOSED, not yet ratified -- see issue #11112. The value set borrows epidemiological framing and may be heavier than the KB needs; settle it before populating at scale, since narrowing an enum later is the merge-shaped failure recorded in issue #10061.
  • ASSOCIATED_ONLY is a first-class answer, not a placeholder. Most curated exposures rest on observational cohort evidence that establishes a risk association and never reaches a mechanism, and recording that honestly is better than either inflating it or leaving the exposure unlinked.

Identifier and Mapping Information

Schema Source

  • from schema: https://w3id.org/monarch-initiative/dismech

LinkML Source

name: EnvironmentalCausalRoleEnum
description: How strongly an environmental exposure determines the disease, as distinct
  from which way it acts. Pairs with Environmental.disease_effect, which carries the
  direction.
comments:
- 'PROPOSED, not yet ratified -- see issue #11112. The value set borrows epidemiological
  framing and may be heavier than the KB needs; settle it before populating at scale,
  since narrowing an enum later is the merge-shaped failure recorded in issue #10061.'
- ASSOCIATED_ONLY is a first-class answer, not a placeholder. Most curated exposures
  rest on observational cohort evidence that establishes a risk association and never
  reaches a mechanism, and recording that honestly is better than either inflating
  it or leaving the exposure unlinked.
from_schema: https://w3id.org/monarch-initiative/dismech
rank: 1000
permissible_values:
  NECESSARY:
    text: NECESSARY
    description: The disease does not occur without this exposure, though the exposure
      alone is not sufficient (e.g., gluten in coeliac disease; grass pea overconsumption
      in neurolathyrism).
    title: Necessary cause
  SUFFICIENT:
    text: SUFFICIENT
    description: The exposure alone produces the disease in a susceptible host, without
      requiring a further hit (e.g., a high enough acute dose of a poison).
    title: Sufficient cause
  COMPONENT_CAUSE:
    text: COMPONENT_CAUSE
    description: The exposure is one required member of a set of causes that together
      produce the disease; neither necessary nor sufficient on its own.
    title: Component cause
  RISK_FACTOR:
    text: RISK_FACTOR
    description: The exposure raises or lowers disease incidence in populations, with
      a causal reading supported but no claim about necessity or sufficiency (e.g.,
      alcohol and breast carcinoma).
    title: Risk factor
  MODIFIER:
    text: MODIFIER
    description: The exposure alters the course, severity, or expression of disease
      that is already established, rather than its occurrence.
    title: Modifier
  ASSOCIATED_ONLY:
    text: ASSOCIATED_ONLY
    description: A reported statistical association whose causal status is unsettled
      or unevidenced in the cited source. Use when the evidence measures co-occurrence
      or incidence and the entry makes no causal claim beyond it.
    title: Associated only