Correlations

Many folks ask when Symple will calculate and show correlations between symptoms and factors. I have hesitated to add correlations for several reasons:

• Correlations will subject us to medical device regulation 

• We could calculate those correlations incorrectly

• And most concerning, users may confuse a correlation with causation 

And that’s understandable because we often confuse the two. A correlation is a relationship between two or more things, e.g., when the the sun is shining, the stock market goes up. Causation suggests that one actually influences the other. In this case, we’d say that the sun causes prices to rise, or that high stock prices make the sun shine! Obviously, neither is true. The sun does not influence the price of stocks, nor does Wall Street have power over the sun (though some might beg to differ!)

For our purposes, let’s consider medications and how they make you feel. If you take your medications every morning with a shot of vodka, which is to blame for making you dizzy soon thereafter, the meds or the booze? If you only track “medications” against “dizziness,” you’ll see a correlation between the two. But are the medications to blame for making you dizzy? Or is the shot of vodka the culprit? While this is an extreme example, it helps illustrate the dangers of confusing correlations and causation.

Symple helps us think experimentally, to ask questions and make observations. But Symple can’t and shouldn’t make suggestions. That’s the job of your doctor, pharmacist or therapist.