Answer 2 for HLT 362 Using the research article selected for DQ 1, identify three key questions you will ask and answer when reading the research study and why these questions are important Question: Why was a cohort study chosen to investigate the severity of C. Difficile Infection?

Answer: Cohort studies are a powerful tool for identifying the risk factors and causes of disease. Cohort studies are also called longitudinal studies because they follow groups of people over time (Balingit, 2023). Results from cohort studies help researchers understand how human health is affected by the environmental and social factors that influence it. To carry out prospective cohort studies, researchers identify a group of people to study and plan the research in advance, collecting data over time. In retrospective cohort studies, researchers use data that is already available for a particular group. For example, the researcher chose patients that were hospitalized with positive stool assays for C. difficile toxin A or B or toxigenic culture.

Question: Is it possible for selection bias in this type of study?

Answer: Selection bias is a distortion in a measure of association (such as a risk ratio) due to a sample selection that does not accurately reflect the target population (Alexander et al, 2015). Selection bias can occur when investigators use improper procedures for selecting a sample population, but it can also occur because of factors that influence continued participation of subjects in a study (Balingit, 2023). In either case, the final study population is not representative of the target population. The overall population for which the measure of effect is being calculated and from which study members are selected (Alexander et al, 2015).

Question: What challenges are faced with this type of research?

Cohort studies are more time-consuming and often more expensive than other types of studies. For example, it took the researchers 5 years to report findings on C Difficile incidence on a sample size of 111 participants (Bilgin et al, 2020). This type of study is also less suited to finding clues about rare diseases since these do not develop in many people. In addition to this, it is potentially prone to bias if participants drop out of the study over time or if researchers select an unrepresentative group of people (Balingit, 2023).

 References

Alexander et al. (2015). UNC Department of Epidemiology. Retrieved from https://sph.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/112/2015

Balingit. (2023). Cohort study. Retrieved from https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/281703#what-is-a-cohort

Bilgin et al. (2020). Hospital acquired Clostridium difficile infection and risk factors. Retrieved from https://eds-p-ebscohost-com.lopes.idm.oclc.org/eds/detail/detail?vid=2&sid=b3948e61-bc0b-4855-931d-c2bc6ff9635