And before someone asks "But what if it's .. instead?": Yes, they controlled for lots of things:
> lower risks for all-cause mortality after adjustment for lifestyle, sociodemographic, and clinical factors
The patient data is from UK Biobank, which has quite a bit about each participant. While they can't control for everything (like factors that aren't documented), they can control for a lot - probably including whatever possible confounder someone jumps to.
Although it's still subject to the limitations of an observational study, 171,616 people is a big cohort, mortality is clearly measurable, and the observed effect is really large. It's worth paying attention to.
And before someone asks "But what if it's .. instead?": Yes, they controlled for lots of things:
> lower risks for all-cause mortality after adjustment for lifestyle, sociodemographic, and clinical factors
The patient data is from UK Biobank, which has quite a bit about each participant. While they can't control for everything (like factors that aren't documented), they can control for a lot - probably including whatever possible confounder someone jumps to.
Although it's still subject to the limitations of an observational study, 171,616 people is a big cohort, mortality is clearly measurable, and the observed effect is really large. It's worth paying attention to.