RT Book, Section
A1 White, Susan E.
SR Print(0)
ID 1176051349
T1 Study Designs in Medical Research
T2 Basic & Clinical Biostatistics, 5e
YR 2020
FD 2020
PB McGraw-Hill Education
PP New York, NY
SN 9781260455366
LK accessanesthesiology.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1176051349
RD 2024/04/16
AB KEY  CONCEPTSStudy  designs  in  medicine  fall  into  two  categories:  studies  in  which  subjects  are  observed,  and  studies  in  which  the  effect  of  an  intervention  is  observed.Observational  studies  may  be  forward-looking  (cohort),  backward-looking  (case–control),  or  looking  at  simultaneous  events  (cross-sectional).  Cohort  studies  generally  provide  stronger  evidence  than  the  other  two  designs.Studies  that  examine  patient  outcomes  are  increasingly  published  in  the  literature;  they  focus  on  specific  topics,  such  as  resource  utilization,  functional  status,  quality  of  life,  patient  satisfaction,  and  cost-effectiveness.Studies  with  interventions  are  called  experiments  or  clinical  trials.  They  provide  stronger  evidence  than  observational  studies.The  single  best  way  to  minimize  bias  is  to  randomly  select  subjects  in  observational  studies  or  randomly  assign  subjects  to  different  treatment  arms  in  clinical  trials.Bias  occurs  when  the  way  a  study  is  designed  or  carried  out  causes  an  error  in  the  results  and  conclusions.  Bias  can  be  due  to  the  manner  in  which  subjects  are  selected  or  data  are  collected  and  analyzed.Clinical  trials  without  controls  (subjects  who  do  not  receive  the  intervention)  are  difficult  to  interpret  and  do  not  provide  strong  evidence.Each  study  design  has  specific  advantages  and  disadvantages.