define confounding.
Confounding: A situation in which a measure of association or relationship between exposure and outcome is distorted by the presence of another variable.
confound verb [T]. âº to âconfuse and very much âsurprise someone, so that they are âunable to âexplain or âdeal with a âsituation: An âelderly man from Hull has confounded âdoctors by ârecovering after he was âofficially âdeclared âdead. The âsinger confounded her âcritics with a âremarkable âfollow-up âalbum.