Case-control study
In epidemiology, case-control studies are "studies which start with the identification of persons with a disease of interest and a control (comparison, referent) group without the disease. The relationship of an attribute to the disease is examined by comparing diseased and non-diseased persons with regard to the frequency or levels of the attribute in each group."[1][2]
Alternatively stated, a case control can be a backwards, or reverse, study and has been called a trohoc study (cohort spelled backwards) to emphasize this.[3] Thus, in the case-control study, subjects are gathered after outcomes have developed and divided into two groups: those who had the outcome (or disease) and those who did not. The investigator then goes back in time to measure whether those who developed disease had more exposure to the putative cause.
This design is in contrast to the randomized controlled trial or cohort study in which patients are divided into an exposure group and a control group and then are prospectively followed in order to measure frequency of outcomes.
References
- ↑ Anonymous (2024), Case-control study (English). Medical Subject Headings. U.S. National Library of Medicine.
- ↑ Barker, D. J. P.; Coggon, D.; Rose, Geoffrey (1997). “Case-control and cross sectional studies”, Epidemiology for the uninitiated. London: BMJ Pub. Group. ISBN 0-7279-1102-3.
- ↑ Feinstein AR (1973). "Clinical biostatistics. XX. The epidemiologic trohoc, the ablative risk ratio, and "retrospective" research". Clin. Pharmacol. Ther. 14 (2): 291–307. PMID 4695389. [e]