Which causation criterion refers to greater exposure leading to higher disease rates?

• A. Dose-response
• B. Strength of association
• C. Consistency
• D. Specificity

Answer: (A)

The idea being tested is the dose-response relationship, also called the biological gradient. This criterion says that as exposure increases, the risk or frequency of the disease tends to rise. Seeing a clear exposure gradient—such as people who smoke more cigarettes per day having higher lung-cancer risk—provides strong evidence that the exposure is causally related to the outcome. It helps show a smooth or stepped increase in disease with greater levels of exposure, which supports the idea that the exposure is not just associated with the disease by coincidence.

Other criteria describe different aspects. Strength of association looks at how large the association is, but it doesn’t inherently address how risk changes with different exposure levels. Consistency asks whether findings repeat across different studies. Specificity is about a cause leading to a particular effect, which is not always the case in complex diseases. Dose-response is the explicit pattern that ties higher exposure to higher disease rates, making it the best choice here.