what is a case study epidemiology

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Oomph library resources: phw 250/250b epidemiologic methods: epidemiologic case study resources.

• Online Books on Epidemiology and Biostatistics
• R for Public Health
• Epidemiologic Case Study Resources
• Rural Health Resources
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Epidemiologic Case Studies

• Epidemiologic Case Studies (US CDC) These case studies are interactive exercises developed to teach epidemiologic principles and practices. They are based on real-life outbreaks and public health problems and were developed in collaboration with the original investigators and experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The case studies require students to apply their epidemiologic knowledge and skills to problems confronted by public health practitioners at the local, state, and national level every day.
• Case Studies (WHO) From "Strengthening health security by implementing the International Health Regulations," each case has learning objectives and documentation.
• Case Studies in Social Medicine A series of Perspective articles from the New England Journal of Medicine that highlight the importance of social concepts and social context in clinical medicine. The series uses discussions of real clinical cases to translate theories and methods for understanding social processes into terms that can readily be used in medical education, clinical practice, and health system planning.
• African Case Studies in Public Heath Case study exercises based on real events in African contexts and written by experienced Africa-based public health trainers and practitioners. These case studies represent the most up-to-date and context-appropriate case study exercises for African public health training programs. These exercises are designed to reinforce and instill competencies for addressing health threats in the future leaders of public health in Africa.
• Case Consortium @ Columbia University: Public Health Cases The case collection includes "teaching" cases. Nearly all the cases are multimedia and based on original research; a few are written from secondary sources. All cases are offered free of charge.
• Epi Teams Training: Case Studies From the North Carolina Institute for Public Health, this curriculum includes several interactive case studies designed be used by the Epi Team as a group. These case studies are based on actual outbreaks that have occurred in North Carolina and elsewhere.
• National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science The mission of the NCCSTS at the University at Buffalo is to promote the development and dissemination of materials and practices for case teaching in the sciences. Our website provides access to an award-winning collection of peer-reviewed case studies. We offer a five-day summer workshop and a two-day fall conference to train faculty in the case method of teaching science. In addition, we are actively engaged in educational research to assess the impact of the case method on student learning. "Case Collection" includes over 100 public health cases.

Books of Case Studies

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• J Bras Pneumol
• v.46(4); Jul-Aug 2020

Case series: an essential study design to build knowledge and pose hypotheses for rare and new diseases

Série de casos: delineamento de estudo essencial para a construção de conhecimento e a proposição de hipóteses para doenças raras e novas, carlos arturo torres-duque.

1 . Methods in Epidemiologic, Clinical, and Operations Research-MECOR-program, American Thoracic Society/Asociación Latinoamericana del Tórax, Montevideo, Uruguay.

2 . CINEUMO Research Center, Fundación Neumológica Colombiana, Bogota, Colombia.

3 . Universidad de la Sabana, Bogota, Colombia.

Cecilia Maria Patino

4 . Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

Juliana Carvalho Ferreira

5 . Divisão de Pneumologia, Instituto do Coração, Hospital das Clínicas, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo (SP) Brasil.

PRACTICAL SCENARIO

At the end of December of 2019, a pneumonia outbreak of unknown origin appeared in China. Soon afterwards, the causative virus was identified-SARS coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and the disease was named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In January of 2020, Chinese investigators published a detailed case series describing the characteristics and outcomes of 41 adults with confirmed COVID-19. 1 The study showed that 15% of those patients died during the study period. That case series 1 was extremely important because it was the first published description of the impact of the new disease, helping clinicians around the world to face a new pandemic.

CONCEPTS AND APPLICATION

A case series includes a description of the characteristics and outcomes among a group of individuals with either a disease or an exposure (which can be an intervention) over a period of time and without a control group. Data are collected retrospectively or prospectively, and there is no randomization. The objective is to describe the population and outcomes, rather than compare risks across groups. Therefore, a case series differs from cohort studies because the latter compares the risk between two groups (exposed and unexposed) and allows for the estimation of an absolute risk for the occurrence of a given outcome in the exposed group and of a relative risk in comparison with the unexposed group.

The case series design is not considered the strongest source of evidence due to the absence of a control group and the risk of bias, in particular selection bias, since typical or severe cases of the disease are more easily identified, and rare presentations or mild cases may not be included. In the Chinese report, 1 for example, patients with less severe COVID-19 were not hospitalized and therefore were not included in the case series. However, case series are particularly important when a new disease or treatment emerges, because it provides descriptive information and contributes to building knowledge and generating hypotheses. Case series is also an appropriate study design to describe new treatments, previously unknown medication adverse events, and rare diseases. 2

METHODOLOGY AND QUALITY OF CASE SERIES STUDIES

• Inclusion criteria - A precise operational definition of a “case” is crucial for the reliability of the study.
• Sampling - Two strategies are possible: 1) based on disease or exposure; 2) based on a specific outcome.
• Selection of variables of interest - A detailed selection and a clear definition of predictive variables of interest are necessary, as well as test results, interventions, complications, adverse events, and outcomes.
• Systematic collection of data and robust analysis - They assure the quality of a case series study.

Table 1 presents a tool for evaluating the methodological quality of case series. 2

Adapted from Murad et al. 2 Questions 4, 5 and 6 are more relevant for adverse drug events.