A tracking system for conducting epidemiological case-control studies.
The automated-respondent tracking system (ARTS) is an event-driven management system developed to monitor data collection during large epidemiological case-control studies. ARTS facilitates the conduct and management of these studies by eliminating the problems and limitations of manually monitoring subjects. This system, developed on an IBM 3032, consists of a series of programs linked by a general update program. Data captured on each subject for every study phase are used to generate lists of subjects requiring further action by the study staff. Additionally, ARTS produces reports reflecting a study's progress. Improved study management and reduced clerical load justify the system's costs. Concepts and programming principles applied to ARTS can be generalized to other epidemiological study designs.
D003201:Computers; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D006801:Humans; D012984:Software