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Intervention Studies

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Book cover An Introduction to Epidemiology

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A classic intervention study carried out over 200 years ago will be discussed. Although this is an example of a therapeutic trial, the principles involved in preventive, therapeutic and medical-care studies are comparable. It may seem rather surprising to find discussion of clinical trials in a text on epidemiology; however, there are several issues that require consideration in just the same way as in a prospective study. The actual introduction of a preventive or therapeutic measure adds little to the complexity of a study. The important points are the collection of baseline data, the separation of the subjects into two, or more, similar groups and then the collection of unbiased accurate data on outcome. Separation into groups involves similar issues to the selection of samples in case-control or retrospective studies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Office of Population Censuses and Surveys, UK

    Michael Alderson (Chief Medical Statistician)

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  1. Michael Alderson
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© 1983 Michael Alderson

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Alderson, M. (1983). Intervention Studies. In: An Introduction to Epidemiology. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-17291-7_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-17291-7_7

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-333-35015-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-349-17291-7

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