They look back to assess whether there is a statistically significant difference in the rates of exposure to a defined risk factor between the groups. They clearly define two groups at the start: one with the outcome/disease and one without the outcome/disease. What is retrospective case control study?Ĭase-control studies are retrospective. A retrospective case-control uses these two groups and looks back to the past for data and possible risk factors. Retrospective Case-Control Study Case-control studies involve two groups of people: people who have the disease (cases) and those who do not (controls). Because prospective studies are designed with specific data collection methods, it has the advantage of being tailored to collect specific exposure data and may be more complete.Īre cohort studies prospective or retrospective?ĭo retrospective studies have control groups? Prospective studies are carried out from the present time into the future. Is cohort study prospective or retrospective?Ĭohort studies can be prospective or retrospective (Figure 2). Case-control studies are relatively simple to conduct. But this design does not work for rare diseases–you would then need a large study group to find sufficient disease cases. Why is cohort better than Case-Control?Ĭohort studies work well for rare exposures–you can specifically select people exposed to a certain factor.
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In the retrospective cohort design, the researcher starts the study at the time follow-up has already been completed (3). Cohort studies follow groups defined by different exposures and observe the incidence of the outcomes. This study is labeled as ‘case-control’, but it is actually a retrospective cohort study. When the subjects are enrolled in their respective groups, the outcome of each subject is already known by the investigator.
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Is retrospective and case-control study same?īy definition, a case-control study is always retrospective because it starts with an outcome then traces back to investigate exposures.
![retrospective cohort study vs case control retrospective cohort study vs case control](https://image1.slideserve.com/1834766/type-of-cohort-study-l.jpg)
Whereas the cohort study is concerned with frequency of disease in exposed and non-exposed individuals, the case-control study is concerned with the frequency and amount of exposure in subjects with a specific disease (cases) and people without the disease (controls). What is the difference between Case-control and cohort studies? While retrospective cohort studies try to compare the risk of developing a disease to some already known exposure factors, a case-control study will try to determine the possible exposure factors after a known disease incidence. What is the difference between retrospective cohort study and case-control?