The statistical association was "startlingly strong," the authors of the study said.

The risk at this stage is merely a statistical association and does not mean that baldness causes heart attacks.

There is a statistical association between poor bone density and higher probability of fracture.

My research seems also to confirm a statistical association between small dowry payments and wife beating.

Experts said the findings did not establish a cause and effect relationship, merely a statistical association that required further study.

There is no statistical association between poverty and militant radicalization.

Studies such as these can only indicate a statistical association, not prove cause and effect.

But the new study offers more than a statistical association between a gene type and a behavior.

For example, some early epidemiologic research showed a statistical association between heart disease and the number of television sets a person owned.

"Television is the cause," many people will falsely conclude after reading about such statistical associations.