Case-Control Study

Case-control studies measure the association between the exposure to particular risk factors and the occurrence of a specific disease. These types of studies are common in public health and medical research. The basic premise of such studies is the comparison of two groups: "cases," individuals who have a particular disease of interest to the researcher, and "controls," who do not have the disease.

In case-control studies, individuals in the case group are selected and matched to persons in the control group on a common set of characteristics that are not considered to be risk factors for the disease being studied. These characteristics are frequently demographic variables such as age, gender, education, income, and area of residence. Comparisons across the case-control pairs are made, examining hypothesized risk ...