PUB 540 Describe the common characteristics and design of a case-control study

PUB 540 Describe the common characteristics and design of a case-control study

PUB 540 Describe the common characteristics and design of a case-control study

Case-control studies allow the investigator to measure exposure and outcome to study the outcome variables for both case and control.  Then the association between the control group and case groups are compared for similarities.  There are key selection criteria features when using this type of design. These are the key features as discussed by Setia (2016): 1) Case must be clearly well described to include all aspects of the selection criterion; 2) they need to come from the same group and the evaluation methods must be the same for both case and control group; 3) Matching can be used to ensure the case group and control group would be the same, for example with smokers, selection of the same age group and gender helps. One freedom is that where cases are collected is not a constraint.  Cases and control groups can come from clinics, hospitals, or medical registrars according to Kumar (n.d.).  All these factors mentioned are crucial as not create selection bias as also discussed by Setia (2016).  

Case control studies are usually retrospective according to Kumar (n.d.), so selection bias can occur easily.  When selection bias occurs, it opens the door to groups that should be compared because the similarities may not be there.  And, if hospital cases are chosen, patients with higher exposure could produce skewed results. 

References 

Kumar (n.d.) Introduction to Study Designs – Case-Control Studies.  Health Knowledge Website. https://www.healthknowledge.org.uk/e-learning/epidemiology/practioners/introduction-study-design-ccs 

Setia M. S. (2016). Methodology Series Module 2: Case-control Studies. Indian journal of dermatology, 61(2), 146–151. https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-5154.177773 

Friis, R. H., & Sellers, T. (2020). Epidemiology for public health practice (6th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning. 

Click here to ORDER an A++ paper from our Verified MASTERS and DOCTORATE WRITERS PUB 540 Describe the common characteristics and design of a case-control study:

Case-control studies can be classified as analytical and observational studies. The common characteristic of a case control-study is an observational study that compares the infected individuals of a particular disease to those who are uninfected.  More scientifically the case represents those with the disease of interest, while the control represents those without the disease.  For the objective of the study to be effective and displayed one must utilize the three essential features for selecting cases and controls.  Control should be selected from the source population while cases are present or from the same study. Furthermore, matching techniques should be used to ensure cases and controls have the same features.  The third characteristic is the confounding elimination. 

Case-control studies are notorious to bias due to the backward approach (Aigner et al., 2018). Therefore, researchers must define the case by providing an inclusion criterion. The limitation of questionnaire lacks the appeal to one ethos, not allowing for accurate responses, time consuming, and inaccurate recall. Other methods for collecting data are the following but no limited to records and interviews. These methods of data collection will allow for the researchers to develop more of a connection and understand the subjects. 

References:

Aigner, A., Grittner, U., & Becher, H. (2018). Bias due to differential participation in case-control studies and review of available approaches for Adjustment. PLOS ONE, 13(1). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0191327 

Kopec, J. A., & Esdaile, J. M. (1990). Bias in case-control studies. A review. Journal of epidemiology and community health, 44(3), 179–186. https://doi.org/10.1136/jech.44.3.179

Case-Control studies is an analytical and observational study that compares the controls and the group with the disease mainly using questionaires. The main characteristics of a case-control study is that it is a quantitative type of study where the data is collected retrospectively that is from past to future or exposure to effect. The researcher does not follow patients into the future because of its retrospective nature & quicker. Using questionaires do have a few disadvantages such as not being able to see feelings and emotions, analysis is difficult, and the respondants may not be able to respond accurately. Setia (2016) research shows that case-control studies are not useful for rare outcomes but not rare diseases because studying rare diseases is very time consuming.

References:

Setia M. S. (2016). Methodology Series Module 2: Case-control Studies. Indian journal of dermatology, 61(2), 146–151. https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-5154.177773

The common characteristics and design of a case- control study is an observation design. They are two existing groups which is people with the disease and the people without diseases. So that would be case would be with disease, and with case is with the diseases.

The three essential features related to the selection of cases and controls entail the

identification and classification of cases from the source population in terms of whether they

belong to the exposed or unexposed cohort. Subsequently, the sampling of a second control

group is conducted in a similar size from a population identical in every aspect to that of the

cases (Mahajan, 2015).

The limitation for using questionnaire is to determine the exposure of the status of the data that is collected. It also might be time consuming, also longer for participants to complete the questionnaire.

References:

Case-control designs- Principles (influentialpoints.com)

A case-control study is an observational study and it estimates the odds of the risks. This study is less expensive to conduct and takes less time to get data because the disease or risk has already occurred. However, case-control studies do have their drawbacks the data collection relies on how memory. This could prove to be biased, especially in the group that had the disease (The George Washington Library, 2019). While doing research for this question I read one paper that simply stated that case-control studies are first to identify the cases and the controls. Second look back in time to learn which subjects in each group had the exposure (Lewallen & Courtright, 1998). Then calculate the exposure in both groups. For me, I have found reading the information and then breaking it down into understandable terms helps me to process the information. What do you think about case-control studies? Do you agree that there could be bias in the data received?

References

Lewallen, S., & Courtright, P. (1998). Epidemiology in practice: case-control studies. Community eye health, 11(28), 57–58.

The George Washington Library. (2019). Study Design 101. The Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library. Retrieved from https://himmelfarb.gwu.edu/tutorials/studydesign101/casecontrols.cfm. May 29, 2022

A case-control study that compares patients who have a disease with patients who do not have the disease and looks back retrospectively (back in time to find the relative risk factors) to compare how frequently the exposure to a risk factor is present in each group to determine the relationship between the risk factor and the disease, (Tenny et al., 2022).

The three essential features related to selecting cases and controls entail, identifying and or selecting individuals in whom the distribution of exposure status would be the same as that of the cases in the absence of an exposure disease association, participants are based on their outcome status. The cases and controls should have the same distribution of exposure. It is essential that the case definition is clearly defined at the outset of the investigation to ensure that all cases included in the study are based on the same diagnostic criteria. The source of controls is dependent on the source of cases.  Situations where cases and controls can be violated through selection bias. According to Tenny et al., (2022) “The researcher must recognize the potential for failing to identify confounding variables or exposures, introducing the possibility of confounding bias, which occurs when a variable that is not being accounted for that has a relationship with both the exposure and outcome. This can cause a researcher to accidentally be studying something that is not accounted for but that may be systematically different between the groups, (Hennekens & Buring, 1987).

The limitations of using questionnaires in determining exposure status are that data collected might be time-consuming, and longer for participants complete questionnaires. Untruthful answers when filling out the questions and not fully understanding what is asked. Strategies for collecting information are to make sure questions are short, clear, and to the point. Make sure all questions are asked to address the aims of the research, (Mcleod, 2018).

References

Hennekens CH, Buring JE. Epidemiology in Medicine, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 1987. Introduction to study designs, case-control studies. Retrieved From: https://www.healthknowledge.org.uk/

Mcleod, S., (2018). Questionnaire: definition, examples, design, and types. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/questionnaires.html

Tenny, S., Kerndt, C. C., & Hoffman, M. R. (2022). Case-Control Studies. In StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28846237/

The common characteristics of a case-control study are that it is an observational study that looks at individuals with a particular disease or condition and compares them to individuals without that disease or condition. Cases and controls are typically selected from the same population, and they should be similar in all respects except for their exposure to the factor being studied. Cases and controls should also be selected independently of each other to avoid bias.

One reason to use questionnaires to determine exposure status in case-control studies is that they are generally less expensive and time-consuming than other methods, such as medical record review or interviews with family or friends. However, questionnaires have several limitations, including the possibility of inaccurate recall and the potential for people to deliberately misrepresent their exposures.

Alternative methods for collecting exposure information include review of medical records, use of biological markers, and interviews with family or friends. Each of these methods has its own advantages and disadvantages, so the best method to use will depend on the specific situation.

One situation where one of the important features of selecting cases and controls might be violated is if the cases and controls are selected from different populations. For example, if the cases are all people with cancer and the controls are all healthy people, then the groups are not comparable and the results of the study may not be meaningful.

References:

1. Rothman, K.J., & Greenland, S. (1998). Modern Epidemiology (2nd ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott-Raven Publishers.

2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). Case-control studies: Questions and answers. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/dcpc/research/methods/casecontrol.htm

3. Bhopal, R., & Byatt, M. (1994). Exposure assessment in case-control studies. In R. Bhopal & M. Byatt (Eds.), Case-control studies: Design, conduct, analysis (pp. 91-114). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

“Case control studies are observational because no intervention is attempted and no attempt is made to alter the course of the disease. The goal is to retrospectively determine the exposure to the risk factor of interest from each of the two groups of individuals: cases and controls. These studies are designed to estimate odds.” (GWU, 2019). However, “case-control studies, like cohort studies, can be either retrospective or prospective. In a prospective case-control study, the investigator still enrolls based on outcome status, but the investigator must wait to the cases to occur.” (BU, n.d.)

The three important features of a case-control study are: survivor sampling, case-based sampling and risk set sampling.

Survivor sampling is “Survivorship bias means that the researcher subjects variables to some sort of screening contest, and chooses the ones who sail through the process successfully. This pre-selection process pushes out unsuccessful variables due to their lack of visibility. When survivorship bias happens, the entire spotlight beams on the most successful variables, even if these participants do not have relevant information for the study. Expectedly, this can affect the validity of your research results. Survivorship bias also tends to create conclusions that are overly optimistic, and that may not be representative of real-life environments.” (Formplus, 2022).

Case-based sampling “This sampling involves using controls selected from the source population such that every person has the same chance of being included as a control. This type of sampling only works with a previously defined cohort. In these case-control studies, the odds ratio provides a valid estimate of the risk ratio without assuming that the disease is rare in the source population.” (Alexander, et al, 2013).

Risk-Set sampling “When cases are incident cases and when controls are selected from the at-risk source population at the same time as cases occur (controls must be eligible to become a case if the health outcome develops in the control at a later time during the period of observation) then we call this type of sampling incidence density sampling or risk set sampling. The control series provides an estimate of the proportion of the total person-time for exposed and unexposed cohorts in the source population. In these case-control studies, the odds ratio estimates the rate ratio of cohort studies, without assuming that the disease is rare in the source population.” (Alexander, et al, 2013).

In my opinion I can clearly see errors and bias occurring with risk-set sampling. Selecting subjects from the same group of the “at risk” group, during the same time frame. i believe this can tilt the odds ratio in the positive favor of the hypothesis answer the researcher is seeking.

Limitations of using questionnaires for exposure status would be the following: “can not be considered for illiterate persons, Validity and reliability is low, Poor and late responses, Not helpful in finding information of the complex emotional person and It allows respondents to change their previous answer if it contradicts the after answers. (Prasanna, 2022).

A better alternative would be interviews. Interviews face to face, over the phone or online (zoom). This type of data collection for case control studies would yield honest and informative answers for the study. It allows the researcher to better understand the subject answers by observing their behaviors and allow them to express their opinions of the study. (VT, 2018).

Resources

Alexander, L., Lopes, B., Riccetti-Masterson, K., Yeatts, K. (2013). Case-control studies

Boston University School of Public Health. (n.d.). A nested case-control study.

Formplus Blog. (2022). Selection bias in research: types, examples and impact.

George Washington University. (2019). Case control – study design 101

Prasanna. (2022). Advantages and disadvantages of questionnaire: top 6 questionnaire advantages and

disadvantages: pros and cons.

Virginia Tech University, (2018). Research methods guide: interview research.