Research Methods in Healthcare Epidemiology and Antimicrobial Stewardship-Observational Studies.
Observational studies compare outcomes among subjects with and without an exposure of interest, without intervention from study investigators. Observational studies can be designed as a prospective or retrospective cohort study or as a case-control study. In healthcare epidemiology, these observational studies often take advantage of existing healthcare databases, making them more cost-effective than clinical trials and allowing analyses of rare outcomes. This paper addresses the importance of selecting a well-defined study population, highlights key considerations for study design, and offers potential solutions including biostatistical tools that are applicable to observational study designs. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2016;1-6.
1Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center,Harvard University,Boston,Massachusetts.
Graham M
GM
Snyder
2Denver Health Medical Center,University of Colorado Hospital,Denver,Colorado.
Heather
H
Young
3Creighton University School of Medicine,Omaha,Nebraska.
Meera
M
Varman
4Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions,Baltimore,Maryland.
Aaron M
AM
Milstone
5University of Maryland School of Medicine,Veterans Affairs Maryland Health Care System,Baltimore,Maryland.
Anthony D
AD
Harris
6Institute for Health and Society and Department of Medicine,Medical College of Wisconsin,Milwaukee,Wisconsin.
Silvia
S
Munoz-Price
D000073602:Antimicrobial Stewardship; D015982:Bias; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000453:epidemiology; D016208:Databases, Factual; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D016021:Epidemiologic Studies; D006801:Humans; D064887:Observational Studies as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D012107:Research Design