Descriptive Studies: Examples • Trends in serum cholesterol • Incidence of cervical cancer • Secular trends in heart disease mortality • Prevalence of domestic violence • Incidence of rape among street youth • Epidemiology of low birth weight • Prevalence of smoking by age and gender • Incidence and prevalence of dementia

Mar 2, 2025 · While the classical flowchart may seem simplistic, it provides a practical roadmap for thinking through epidemiologic research questions and highlights the importance of carefully matching the design to the research objective.

Observational study designs, also called epidemiologic study designs, are often retrospective and are used to assess potential causation in exposure-outcome relationships and therefore influence preventive methods.

Apr 24, 2023 · In epidemiology, researchers are interested in measuring or assessing the relationship of exposure with a disease or an outcome. As a first step, they define the hypothesis based on the research question and then decide which study design will be …

Mar 11, 2022 · In a broadly manner, epidemiologic study designs can be divided into two broad categories: 1) Descriptive and 2) Analytic. Descriptive studies as the word implies, ‘describe’ situations, problems, and other health phenomena (diseases, disorders, health …

A major goal of epi research is causality Epi studies measure 3 things: exposures, confounders & outcomes Once quantified, the association between exposure and outcome is

Descriptive studies are usually the first phase of an epidemiological investigation. These studies are concerned with observing the distribution of disease or health – related characteristics in human populations. Such studies basically ask the questions of what, who, where, and when.

Information on each of these characteristics can provide clues that help to formulate an epidemiologic hypothesis consistent with existing knowledge of disease occurrence. Focuses on the determinants of a disease by testing the hypotheses formulated from descriptive studies.

There are two primary categories of study designs (figure 3.1), and the primary difference between the two is whether or not we control the study factors. In observational studies, we do not manipulate any study factors and do not randomize.

3 days ago · Analytical studies are designed to evaluate the association between an exposure and a disease or other health outcome, and therefore are designed to test hypotheses. This module will focus on analytical epidemiological studies. Epidemiological studies can also be prospective or retrospective.