A Concise Guide to Observational Studies in Healthcare

A Concise Guide to Observational Studies in Healthcare provides busy healthcare professionals with an easy–to–read introduction and overview to conducting, analysing and assessing observational studies. It is a suitable introduction for anyone without prior knowledge of study design, analysis or conduct as the important concepts are presented throughout the text. It provides an overview to the features of design, analyses and conduct of observational studies, without using mathematical formulae, or complex statistics or terminology and is a useful guide for researchers conducting their own studies, those who participate in studies co–ordinated by others, or who read or review a published report of an observational study. Examples are based on clinical features of people, biomarkers, lifestyle habits and environmental exposures, and evaluating quality of care. A Concise Guide to Observational Studies in Healthcare is a companion text to the popular A Concise Guide to Clinical Trials and is relevant for all healthcare professionals, clinical and health researchers, and medical students.

Preface 1  Fundamental concepts 2  Outcome measures, risk factors, and causality 3  Effect sizes and regression methods 4  Studies based on patient medical records 5 Cross–sectional studies 6  Case–control studies 7  Cohort studies 8  Quality of care studies 9  Prognostic markers for predicting outcomes 10  Systematic reviews and meta–analyses 11  Conducting and reporting observational studies Index

Allan Hackshaw, Deputy Director, Cancer Research UK & UCL Cancer Trials Centre, Cancer Institute, University College London, London, UK