Álvarez-Hernández G, Delgado-DelaMora J

Language: Spanish
References: 17
Page: 26-34
PDF size: 484.07 Kb.

ABSTRACT

The design of epidemiological studies for medical research is mainly based on the relationship between potential determinants and a health condition, which in the case of medicine is usually a disease. It is an experiment, if exposure is determined by the researcher. If, however, the researcher observes only the effect of a variable on a health outcome, then the design is observational. The cross-sectional study is an observational design that measures both exposure and outcome at a given point in time. This study is usually carried out to estimate the prevalence of a disease within a given population, and is common that one of its main purposes is to provide information to make public health interventions. Overall, there are two types of cross-sectional studies, descriptive characterizing the prevalence of disease in a population of interest, and analytical examining the relationship between exposure and disease, but not to establish definitive judgments on causality due to the ambiguity temporal that happens in collecting simultaneously data about risk factors and the outcome of interest.

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