Improving Your Critical Appraisal Skills #3

Case Control Studies

I love case control studies.

When done well, they are simple, relatively easy to perform studies, that can be hugely impactful, usually by suggesting that an exposure is harmful. Case control studies have saved millions of lives, demonstrating the adverse effects of substances such as tobacco smoke, DES, and dexfenfluramine. Case control studies can also mislead us. A poorly chosen control group or a sprinkling of recall bias can lead to wildly misleading results. This balance of the potential for knowledge or hornswoggling is what makes reading case control studies fun. The articles that report the results of case control studies are also usually short – just like this week’s post.