confounder.

A factor that can distort an apparent causal relationship because it influences both the putative cause and the outcome.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• potential confounder
• adjust for confounders
• unmeasured confounder

On the page

Prior health could be a confounder in the relationship between exercise and hospital visits.

The analysis adjusted for measured confounders but could not rule out unmeasured ones.

Treating every recorded variable as a confounder can introduce new bias.

Usage notes

Primary category: academic. Research term; not every additional variable is a confounder. It is normally not a consequence of the exposure being studied. Adjustment must be guided by causal understanding. Singular: confounder; plural: confounders. Derived family (not inflections): confounding.