Why are prospective cohort studies good?

Cohort studies can be prospective or retrospective (Figure 2). Prospective studies are carried out from the present time into the future. 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.

When would you use a prospective cohort study?

A research study that follows over time groups of individuals who are alike in many ways but differ by a certain characteristic (for example, female nurses who smoke and those who do not smoke) and compares them for a particular outcome (such as lung cancer).

What are the strengths of a prospective cohort study?

A major advantage of cohort studies in general is the possibility to study multiple exposures and multiple outcomes in one cohort. Even rare exposures can be studied, for the index group can be selected on this exposure.

Which is an important feature of a prospective cohort study?

Key Concept: The distinguishing feature of a prospective cohort study is that at the time that the investigators begin enrolling subjects and collecting baseline exposure information, none of the subjects has developed any of the outcomes of interest.

What are the disadvantages of a cohort study?

Disadvantages of Prospective Cohort Studies You may have to follow large numbers of subjects for a long time. They can be very expensive and time consuming. They are not good for rare diseases. They are not good for diseases with a long latency.

Are cohort studies cheap?

However, cohort studies are major undertakings. They may require long periods of follow-up since disease may occur a long time after exposure. Therefore, it is a very expensive study design. They do not require a long follow-up period (as the disease has already developed), and are hence much cheaper.

What are the characteristics of cohort study?

The characteristic feature of a cohort study is that the investigator identifies subjects at a point in time when they do not have the outcome of interest and compares the incidence of the outcome of interest among groups of exposed and unexposed (or less exposed) subjects.

Is a prospective cohort study quantitative or qualitative?

In a health care context, randomised controlled trials are quantitative in nature, as are case-control and cohort studies. Surveys (questionnaires) are usually quantitative .

What are the characteristics of a cohort study?

What is an example of a prospective study?

Prospective Cohort Studies: The Framingham Heart Study, the Nurses Health Study, and the Black Women’s Health Study are good examples of large, productive prospective cohort studies. In each of these studies, the investigators wanted to study risk factors for common chronic diseases.

What do you need to know about cohort studies?

In a cohort study, participants who do not have the outcome at baseline are followed over time to estimate the incidence of the outcome. In this type of design, the temporality between the exposure and outcome is well defined. The studies may be prospective, retrospective, or a mixture of both.

What’s the difference between retrospective and prospective cohort studies?

A prospective cohort study will be carried out on new patients who will use this treatment for some time, while a retrospective cohort study will be carried out on patients who used the old treatment.

Which is better a prospective cohort study or a case control study?

Alternatively, one could group subjects based on their body mass index (BMI) and compare their risk of developing heart disease or cancer. Prospective cohort studies are typically ranked higher in the hierarchy of evidence than retrospective cohort studies and can be more expensive than a case–control study.

Why is follow up important in a cohort study?

Follow-up of the study participants is very important in a cohort study, and losses are an important source of bias in these types of studies. These studies are used to estimate the cumulative incidence and incidence rate. One of the main strengths of a cohort study is the longitudinal nature of the data.