Clinical studies Flashcards
Clinical studies
A clinical study seeks to establish facts and contributes to knowledge by confirming an existing or establishing a new theory, based on a conceptual framework. They should be tightly controlled to avoid bias and should be designed on a scale that the results can be statistically evaluated.
Pre-clinical studies
Observational studies require research to only observe patients and make no interventions that may interfere with the study
Epidemiology studies
measure how often diseases occur in different groups of people, and the causes. They are useful to plan and evaluate strategies to prevent illnesses. Epidemiology studies are a type of observational study.
Cross-sectional studies
measure the frequency of a disease in a population at a given time.
Case studies are another form of observational study; medical history of a single patient is taken and reasons for their medical condition may be investigated.
Case control studies
compare patients with a specific condition to those who do not, evaluating risk factors that may cause/ precipitate the condition. They are quick to establish and are useful for studying rare diseases but limited in that clinical records may be inconsistent and there is a degree of reliance on memory – recall bias.
Cohort studies observe a group of with a disease over a long period of time. There may be a comparison to a control group
STROBE
(The Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology) initiatives are involved in the conduct & dissemination – spreading of information – of observational studies.
Detailed scientific studies
require specialised, skilled operators to design, analyse and interpret the data. They are expensive.
Meta-analysis
is a form of systematic review that focuses on numerical results from clinical trials. The aim is to combine the results of many trials to produce an estimate of the average overall effect size – no new data is collected.
