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Analytic Strategies in Hospital Epidemiology: Case-Control Studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 June 2016

Eugene D. Shapiro*
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatrics and Epidemiology, Yale School of Medicine New Haven, Connecticut
*
Department of Pediatrics, Yale School of Medicine, PO Box 3333 New Haven, CT (06510-8064)

Extract

Case-control studies (sometimes referred to as case-referent studies) have long been important in epidemiologic research. This technique has been instrumental in allowing researchers to discover the associations between cigarettes and lung cancer, thromboembolism and oral contraceptives, and stilbesterol and vaginal cancer, just to cite a few examples. The case-control method is also a very useful technique for studies in hospital epidemiology. This article will briefly review this technique, its advantages, and some of its potential pitfalls.

Type
Special Sections
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1989

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