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Design choices for observational studies of the effect of exposure on disease incidence
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to help readers choose an appropriate observational study design for measuring an association between an exposure and disease incidence. We discuss cohort studies, sub-samples from cohorts (case-cohort and nested case-control designs), and population-based or hospital-based case-control studies. Appropriate study design is the foundation of a scientifically valid observational study. Mistakes in design are often irremediable. Key steps are understanding the scientific aims of the study and what is required to achieve them. Some designs will not yield the information required to realise the aims. The choice of design also depends on the availability of source populations and resources. Choosing an appropriate design requires balancing the pros and cons of various designs in view of study aims and practical constraints. We compare various cohort and case-control designs to estimate the effect of an exposure on disease incidence and mention how certain design features can reduce threats to study validity.
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“Eligibility for inclusion was restricted to aetiological studies (i.e. studies investigating whether RF-EMF is causing or contributing to cancer occurrence) of cohort and case-control design, comprising all related typologies (Gail et al., 2019).”
From The effect of exposure to radiofrequency fields on cancer risk in the general and working population: A systematic review of human observational studies - Part I: Most researched outcomes. (2024) · cites this paper as Gail et al., 2019
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Karipidis, K., Baaken, D., Loney, T., Blettner, M., Brzozek, C., Elwood, M., Narh, C., Orsini, N., Röösli, M., Paulo, M. S., et al. (2024) · Environment International · doi:10.1016/j.envint.2024.108983 · Cited by 58
Metadata
- Authors
- Gail, M. H., Altman, D. G., Cadarette, S. M., Collins, G., Evans, S. J., Sekula, P., Williamson, E., & Woodward, M.
- Affiliations
- Biostatistics Branch, National Cancer Institute, Rockville, Maryland, USA
- Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Centre for Statistics in Medicine, Oxford, UK
- Faculty of Pharmacy and School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Centre for Statistics in Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Medical Statistics Unit, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
- Institute of Genetic Epidemiology and Faculty of Medicine, Medical Center, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
- Department of Medical Statistics, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
- The George Institute for Global Health, Oxford University UK and University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Venue
- BMJ Open
- Publisher
- BMJ
- Published
- 2019-12
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- e031031
- ISSN
- 2044-6055
- PMC
- PMC6924819
- Cited by
- 36
- References
- 3
- Language
- en
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- Gail, M. H., Altman, D. G., Cadarette, S. M., Collins, G., Evans, S. J., Sekula, P., Williamson, E., & Woodward, M. (2019). Design choices for observational studies of the effect of exposure on disease incidence. BMJ Open. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-031031
