Lesson plan
Nested case–control study
A nested case–control (NCC) study is a variation of a case–control study in which cases and controls are drawn from the population in a fully enumerated cohort. Usually, the exposure of interest is only measured among the cases and the selected controls. Thus the nested case–control study is more efficient than the full cohort design. The nested case–control study can be analyzed using methods for missing covariates. The NCC design is often used when the exposure of interest is difficult or expensive to obtain and when the outcome is rare. By utilizing data previously collected from a large cohort study, the time and cost of beginning a new case–control study is avoided. By only measuring the covariate in as many participants as necessary, the cost and effort of exposure assessment is reduced. This benefit is pronounced when the covariate of interest is biological, since assessments such as gene expression profiling are expensive, and because the quantity of blood available for such analysis is often limited, making it a valuable resource that should not be used unnecessarily.
Article summary
A nested case–control (NCC) study is a variation of a case–control study in which cases and controls are drawn from the population in a fully enumerated cohort. Usually, the exposure of interest is only measured among the cases and the selected controls. Thus the nested case–control study is more efficient than the full cohort design. The nested case–control study can be analyzed using methods for missing covariates. The NCC design is often used when the exposure of interest is difficult or expensive to obtain and when the outcome is rare. By utilizing data previously collected from a large cohort study, the time and cost of beginning a new case–control study is avoided. By only measuring the covariate in as many participants as necessary, the cost and effort of exposure assessment is reduced. This benefit is pronounced when the covariate of interest is biological, since assessments such as gene expression profiling are expensive, and because the quantity of blood available for such analysis is often limited, making it a valuable resource that should not be used unnecessarily.
Key claims
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.