Cross Sectional Studies Flashcards
What is a descriptive study?
Not designed to evaluate any associations between exposures and outcomes of interest.
What is an example of a descriptive study?
- Case reports
- Case series reports
- Surveys
What is an analytical study?
The central foundation is the comparison between two groups (understanding the connections)
What are some examples of analytical studies?
- Cross-Sectional
- Cohort
- Case Control
What is a prospective study?
outcome of interest has not occurred at the
time the study starts
What is a retrospective study?
both the exposure and the outcome have
occurred when the study begins.
What is an intervention study?
the researcher has control over the allocation of the study subjects to the groups being compared
What are the key considerations for cross-sectional studies?
- Background
- Study Objective
- Study population
- sample size
- Exposure and disease
- analysis
What are the key characteristics of a cross-sectional study?
The groups are determined based on outcome and exposure simultaneously
* Animals/subjects with/ without disease or outcome
* Exposure determined at single point in time, same as outcomes
What is the equation for prevalence?
The number that test positive (at a set time) over the number that test positive + the number that test negative
What is the prevalence risk ratio?
compare prevalence of the outcome or
disease frequency in exposed group and non-exposed group.
What are the limitations of Cross-Sectional Studies?
- Unless the size of the population is known, it is of little interest to compare populations
- the current exposure status may not reflect the status at the time the disease is occuring
- You may over-represent cases with a long disease duration
- You may under-represent cases with a short disease duration
