Representativeness issues in epidemiological studies
10.16462/j.cnki.zhjbkz.2019.01.001
- Author:
Xiong-fei PAN
1
;
Yi WANG
;
Yi YE
;
An PAN
Author Information
1. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
Epidemiology;
Sample;
Representativeness
- From:
Chinese Journal of Disease Control & Prevention
2019;23(1):1-4
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Representativeness has long been a contentious topic in epidemiology. The review starts with defining representativeness in epidemiology and describing fundamental epidemiological concepts including study population, source population, target population, internal validity, and external validity. In addition, it elaborates the role and practicality of representativeness in four major epidemiological study designs including cross-sectional, cohort, case-control, and intervention studies. In summary, representativeness is an important consideration in cross-sectional studies of investigating disease or health status in the target population, but cannot be overstated in epidemiological studies for causal inferences regarding exposure-outcome relationships or intervention effects.
- Full text:流行病学研究中的样本代表性问题（一）.pdf
