A Practical Overview of Case-Control Studies in Clinical Practice

Abstract

Case-control studies are one of the major observational study designs for performing clinical research. The advantages of these study designs over other study designs are that they are relatively quick to perform, economical, and easy to design and implement. Case-control studies are particularly appropriate for studying disease outbreaks, rare diseases, or outcomes of interest. This article describes several types of case-control designs, with simple graphical displays to help understand their differences. Study design considerations are reviewed, including sample size, power, and measures associated with risk factors for clinical outcomes. Finally, we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of case-control studies and provide a checklist for authors and a framework of considerations to guide reviewers' comments.

Keywords: OR; case-cohort; case-crossover; matching; nested case-control; relative risk.