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S. Elizabeth Whitmore, MD
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Department of Dermatology 601 N Caroline St Baltimore, MD 21287-0900

Arch Dermatol. 1996;132(6):713.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

Because causal associations are viewed as extremely important in medicine owing to the resultant consequences, it is only in exceptional instances that studies other than clinical trials may acceptably establish a causal relationship between an exposure and a disease. Instances of the latter include the case-control studies of in-utero diethylstilbestrol exposure and vaginal adenocarcinoma and the use of Rely tampons and toxic shock syndrome; these relationships were accepted as causal because the associations were very strong and the diseases associated with the exposures were exceptionally uncommon in unexposed individuals. The same cannot be said about the claimed association of etretinate and osteoporosis reported in the article, "Osteoporosis Is a Toxic Effect of Long-term Etretinate Therapy."¹

Although the observation cited by DiGiovanna and coworkers¹ is important, it is only an observation. It should be considered "hypothesis generating" and should motivate controlled clinical trials. The observation made does . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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