Case-control study
Research Methods
Definition. A case-control study compares people with an outcome (cases) and without it (controls) to identify past exposures associated with the outcome.
Explanation
The design is efficient for rare outcomes, as in studies of diet and colon or lung cancer (Annema et al., 2011; Axelsson & Rylander, 2002). Self-controlled case series offer a related design that compares periods within the same person (Whitaker et al., 2009).
Related concepts
Cohort study Confounding Cross-sectional study
Read on The Health Topics
- From Nutrients to Patterns: Multidimensional Evidence on the Role of Diet in Colorectal Cancer-
- Nutrition and Lung Cancer
- Self-Controlled Case Series Study Methodology
References
Annema, N., Heyworth, J. S., McNaughton, S. A., Iacopetta, B., & Fritschi, L. (2011). Fruit and vegetable consumption and the risk of proximal and distal colon cancers: A case-control study in Western Australia. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 111 (10), 1479–1490. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jada.2011.07.008
Axelsson, G., & Rylander, R. (2002). Diet as risk for lung cancer: A Swedish case-control study. Nutrition and Cancer, 44(2), 145–151. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327914NC4402_04
Whitaker, H. J., Hocine, M. N., & Farrington, C. P. (2009). The methodology of self-controlled case series studies. Statistical Methods in Medical Research, 18 (1), 7–26.
Cite this entry: Kurutkan, M. N. (2026). Case-control study. In The Health Topics glossary. https://healthtopic.org/glossary/case-control-study/
Articles that discuss this concept
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