Question

You are a member of a research team that has been asked to create a proposal for a study design to address a potential cholera outbreak in Puerto Rico.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is sending a team of epidemiologists to Puerto Rico to investigate cases of cholera associated with Hurricane Maria. As a team member, you are asked to research study design for the upcoming investigation, identifying the advantages and disadvantages of the following four designs as they relate to the mission:

Cross-sectional.

Case control.

Cohort.

Clinical trial.

Your job is to report back to leadership with a recommendation for a study design to be used in the investigation. You must also recommend an implementation strategy that considers the nature of the environment and the affected population.

You are a member of a research team that has been asked to create a proposal for a study design to address a potential cholera outbreak in Puerto Rico.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is sending a team of epidemiologists to Puerto Rico to investigate cases of cholera associated with Hurricane Maria. As a team member, you are asked to research study design for the upcoming investigation, identifying the advantages and disadvantages of the following four designs as they relate to the mission:

Cross-sectional.

Case control.

Cohort.

Clinical trial.

Your job is to report back to leadership with a recommendation for a study design to be used in the investigation. You must also recommend an implementation strategy that considers the nature of the environment and the affected population.

Instructions

To successfully complete this assignment, you must include the following:

Outline the basic processes a team will use to investigate a public health threat.

Select the appropriate study design for investigating a disease outbreak.

Compare epidemiological strengths and weaknesses of study designs used in research and practice.

Recommend evidence-based epidemiological methods for investigating cases of disease outbreak after a natural disaster.

Describe how to control bias in an epidemiological research study.

Recommend implementation strategies for a disease investigation team.

Answer 1

Advantages and disadvantages of study designs
1.cross sectional -it is used to gather information on a population at a single point of time.it is useful in obtaining overall picture of the population as it stands at the time of the study.
*Adv-used to prove /disprove assumptions
not costly and does not require lot of time
contains multiple variables at snapsot
*Dis.adv -cannot be used to analyse behavior over aperiod of time
does not help determine cause and effect
may face challenge putting together the sampling.

2.case control-
Adv-efficient for rare diseases with a long period between exposure and disease manifestations
less costly and less time consuming
helpful when follow up is difficult
Dis.adv-subJect to selection bias
inefficient for rare exposures
do not allow calculation of incidence

3.cohort-
Adv-it defines changes in variables overtime
depth of information can be obtained
helps to assess the trends
Dis.adv-expensive in terms of time ,effort and money
loss of subjects may occur
maturational changes may occur.

4.clinical trial-
Adv-people may receive newer tratment than general population
newer treatment may more effective than standard treatments
progress of treatment will be monitored closely
Dis.adv-newer treatment may not be more effecive than standard and may have more side effects
more tests may be needed during and after treatment than standardtreatents
people in control group will not receive the newer treatment.

APPROPRIATE STUDY DESIGN FOR INVESTIGATING A DISEASE OUTBREAK IS CASE CONTROL DESIGN.