AAAA Therapy + Some Study Designs Flashcards

1
Q

What is epidemiology?

What does it help with?

A

The study of patterns of health and illness, and associted factors at the population level.

It helps in the identification of risk factors for disease and determining optimal treatment.

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2
Q

Which study design is most appropriate to investigate frequency and rate?

A

Cross sectional or cohort.

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3
Q

Which study design is most appropriate to investigate aetiology?

A

Ecological, case control or cohort.

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4
Q

Which study design is most appropriate to investigate prognosis?

A

Cohort.

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5
Q

Which study design is most appropriate to investigate diagnosis?

A

Cross-sectional.

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6
Q

Which study design is most appropriate to investigate effectiveness?

A

RCTs.

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7
Q

Which study design is most appropriate to investigate experiences?

A

Qualitative research.

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8
Q

What is a cross sectional study?

What types are there?

A

A study that examines the relationship between a disease and other variables as they exist in a defined population at a single / short period of time.

Can be descriptive or analytical.

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9
Q

What is a cohort study?

What types are there?

A

A longitudinal study that flows from exposure to outcome, following a group exposed to the risk factor and a group that is unexposed.

Can be prospective (forward-looking) or retrospective (backward-prospective).

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10
Q

What is an ecological study?

A

Ecological studies are observational studies of risk factors on health based on populations defined either geographically or temporally.

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11
Q

What is a longitudinal study?

A

A research method in which data is gathered for the same subjects repeatedly over a period of time.

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12
Q

What is an observational study?

A

Studies where researchers observe the effect of a risk factor without trying to change who is or isn’t exposed to it.

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13
Q

What does PICO stand for?

What is it used for?

A

Population
Intervention
Comparator
Outcome

Used as a framework for research questions.

e.g.

What is the effectiveness of gay therapy 2.0 on big gays as an alternative to gay therapy 1.0 to cure the gay pandemic?
p - big gays
i - gay therapy 2.0
c - gay therapy 1.0 vs 2.0
o - cure gay pandemic
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14
Q

What is a randomised control trial / RCT?

A

A trial in which subjects are randomly assigned to one of two groups: one (the experimental group) receiving the intervention that is being tested, and the other (the comparison group or control) receiving an alternative (conventional) treatment.

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15
Q

What are the 3 main advantages of having a control / comparator group?

A

1 - Increases sample size.

2 - Gives patients a choice about which treatment they receive (if not RCT).

3 - Allows us to evaluate whether patients would get better without the new treatment.

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16
Q

What is allocation bias and attrition bias?

A

Allocation bias - Error that arises from a difference in how participants are assigned to treatment groups and comparison groups in a clinical trial.

Attrition bias - Error caused by unequal loss of participants from a trial.

17
Q

Why might data for some patients in a trial not be used (increasing attrition bias)?

A

There may be individuals for whom data is available but did not adhere to the trial protocol. This data cannot be used.

  • These are not individuals who drop out.
18
Q

How is number needed to treat (NNT) calculated?

What is NNT?

A

NNT / 1 / Risk Difference (RD)

RD = Proportion +ve Outcome (New Treatment) - Proportion +ve Outcome (Existing Treatment)

NNT is the number of patients needed to treat using the new treatment for 1 more person receiving existing treatment to experience a more positive outcome.

19
Q

What is relative risk (RR)?

What does it show?

A

The proportion of positive outcome using a new treatment / proportion of positive outcome using existing treatment.

Shows the difference in effectiveness between the two treatments.

When RR = 1, there is no difference. When RR <1, existing treatment is better, when RR >1, new treatment is better.

20
Q

What does a p value show?

A

The probability of a false positive is equal to the p value.