Abstract
This chapter deals with basic principles and practical issues in designing and planning epidemiological studies. Although most of the practical issues are consequences of the theoretical principles of epidemiology as presented in this handbook as well as standard textbooks (Breslow and Day 1981, 1987; Gordis 2009; Rothman and Greenland 1998; Rothman et al. 2008; Miettinen 1985) and in different chapters (Basic Concepts, Cohort Studies, Case-Control Studies, Confounding and Interaction, Sample Size Determination in Epidemiological Studies, Measurement Error, and Missing Data) of this handbook, the emphasis here is on how to proceed practically when planning a study.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ahrens W (1999) Retrospective assessment of occupational exposure in case-control studies. Development, evaluation and comparison of different methods. Ecomed, Landsberg
Ahrens W, Bammann K, Siani A, Buchecker K, De Henauw S, Iacoviello L, Hebestreit A, Krogh V, Lissner L, Mårild S, Molnár D, Moreno LA, Pitsiladis YP, Reisch L, Tornaritis M, Veidebaum T, Pigeot I, IDEFICS Consortium (2011) The IDEFICS cohort: design, characteristics and participation in the baseline survey. Int J Obes 35(Suppl 1):S3–S15
Ahrens W, Jöckel KH, Brochard P, Bolm-Audorff U, Grossgarten K, Iwatsubo Y, Orlowski E, Pohlabeln H, Berrino F (1993) Retrospective assessment of asbestos exposure–I. Case-control analysis in a study of lung cancer: efficiency of job-specific questionnaires and job exposure matrices. Int J Epidemiol 22(Suppl 2):S83–S95
Andersen LF, Bere E, Kolbjornsen N, Klepp KI (2004) Validity and reproducibility of self-reported intake of fruit and vegetable among 6th graders. Eur J Clin Nutr 58:771–777
Armstrong BK, White E, Saracci R (1994) Principles of exposure measurement in epidemiology. Oxford University Press, Lyon
Biobank UK (2012) http://www.ukbiobank.ac.uk. Accessed 3 Sept 2012
Boeing H, Korfmann A, Bergmann MM (1999) Recruitment procedures of EPIC-Germany. European Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. Ann Nutr Metab 43:205–215
Boffetta P, Burstyn I, Partanen T, Kromhout H, Svane O, Langård S, Järvholm B, Frentzel-Beyme R, Kauppinen T, Stücker I, Shaham J, Heederik D, Ahrens W, Bergdahl IA, Cenée S, Ferro G, Heikkilä P, Hooiveld M, Johansen C, Randem BG, Schill W (2003) Cancer mortality among European asphalt workers: an international epidemiological study. II. Exposure to bitumen fume and other agents. Am J Ind Med 43(1):28–39
Bogers RP, Van Assema P, Kester AD, Westerterp KR, Dagnelie PC (2004) Reproducibility, validity, and responsiveness to change of a short questionnaire for measuring fruit and vegetable intake. Am J Epidemiol 159:900–909
Breslow NE, Chatterjee N (1999) Design and analysis of two-phase studies with binary outcomes applied to Wilms tumor prognosis. Appl Stat 48:457–468
Breslow NE, Day NE (1981) Statistical methods in cancer research, vol I-The analysis of case-control studies. IARC, Lyon
Breslow NE, Day NE (1987) Statistical methods in cancer research, vol II-The design and analysis of cohort studies. IARC, Lyon
Buck C, Pohlabeln H, Huybrechts I, De Bourdeaudhuij I, Pitsiladis Y, Reisch L, Pigeot I (2011) Development and application of a moveability index to quantify possibilities for physical activity in the built environment of children. Health Place 17(6):1191–1201
Burstyn I, Boffetta P, Kauppinen T, Heikkilä P, Svane O, Partanen T, Stücker I, Frentzel-Beyme R, Ahrens W, Merzenich H, Heederik D, Hooiveld M, Brunekreef B, Langård S, Randem BG, Järvholm B, Bergdahl IA, Shaham J, Ferro G, Kromhout H (2003) Performance of different exposure assessment approaches in a study of bitumen fume exposure and lung cancer mortality. Am J Ind Med 43(1):40–48
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2010) National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey NHANES I. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/nhefs/nhefs.htm. Accessed 7 Sept 2012
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2011) Epi InfoTM. http://www.cdc.gov/epiinfo. Accessed 26 July 2012
CIOMS (2009) International ethical guidelines for epidemiological studies. Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS) in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), Geneva
Clavel-Chapelon F, E3N-EPIC Group (2002) Differential effects of reproductive factors on the risk of pre- and postmenopausal breast cancer. Results from a large cohort of French women. Br J Cancer 86:723–727
Filipiak-Pittroff B, Wölke G (2007) External quality assurance in the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS). Procedure and results (in German). Bundesgesundheitsblatt – Gesundheitsforschung – Gesundheitsschutz 50(5–6): 573–577
Flesch-Janys D, Steindorf K, Gurn P, Becher H (1998) Estimation of the cumulated exposure to polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins/furans and standardized mortality ratio analysis of cancer mortality by dose in an occupationally exposed cohort. Environ Health Perspect 106(Suppl 2):655–662
Garfinkel L (1985) Selection, follow-up, and analysis in the American Cancer Society prospective studies. NIH Publication 85–2713, National Cancer Institute Monograph 67. Government printing office, Washington, DC, pp 49–52
Goebel A, Netal S, Schedel R, Sprotte G (2002) Human pooled immunoglobulin in the treatment of chronic pain syndromes. Pain Med 3:119–127
Goldberg M, Chastang J-F, Leclerc A, Zins M, Bonenfant S, Bugel I, Kaniewski N, Schmaus A, Niedhammer I, Piciotti M, Chevalier A, Godard C, Imbernon E (2001) Socioeconomic, demographic, occupational, and health factors associated with participation in a long-term epidemiologic survey: a prospective study of the French GAZEL cohort and its target population. Am J Epidemiol 154:373–384
Gordis L (2009) Epidemiology, 4th edn. Saunders-Elsevier, Philadelphia
Greenland S, Robins J (1994) Invited commentary: ecologic studies-biases, misconceptions, and counterexamples. Am J Epidemiol 139:747–760
Greenland S, Pearl J, Robins JM (1999) Causal diagrams for epidemiologic research. Epidemiology 10:37–48
Hernán MA, Robins JM (2006) Instruments for causal inference: an epidemiologist’s dream? Epidemiology 17:360–372
Hernberg S (1992) Introduction to occupational epidemiology. Lewis Publishers, Chelsea
IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer) EPIC Project (2012) http://epic.iarc.fr. Accessed 23 Jan 2012
IDEFICS study (2011) IDEFICS publication rules. http://www.ideficsstudy.eu/Idefics/UserFiles/File/Pubrules_IDEFICS_ver_2011Jun.pdf. Accessed 30 Sept 2012
IEA (International Epidemiological Association) (2007) Good epidemiological practice (GEP): IEA guidelines for proper conduct of epidemiologic research. http://ieaweb.org/2010/04/good-epidemiological-practice-gep/. Accessed 29 Sept 2012
International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) (2010) Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals: writing and editing for biomedical publication. http://www.icmje.org/urm_full.pdf. Accessed 30 Sept 2012
International Organization for Standardization (2012) ISO 9000 – Quality management. http://www.iso.org/iso/home/standards/management-standards/iso_9000.htm. Accessed 26 July 2012
Kaslow RA, Ostrow DG, Detels R, Phair JP, Polk BF, Rinaldo CR Jr (1987) The Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study: rationale, organization, and selected characteristics of the participants. Am J Epidemiol 126:310–318
Kreienbrock L, Pigeot I, Ahrens W (2012) Epidemiologische Methoden, 5th edn. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg
Kromhout H, Symanski E, Rappaport SM (1994) A comprehensive evaluation of within- and between-worker components of occupational exposure to chemical agents. Ann Occup Hyg 37:253–270
Lagiou P, Georgila C, Minaki P, Ahrens W, Pohlabeln H, Benhamou S, Bouchardy C, Slamova A, Schejbalova M, Merletti F, Richiardi L, Kjaerheim K, Agudo A, Castellsague X, Macfarlane TV, Macfarlane GJ, Talamini R, Barzan L, Canova C, Simonato L, Lowry R, Conway DI, McKinney PA, Znaor A, McCartan BE, Healy C, Nelis M, Metspalu A, Marron M, Hashibe M, Brennan PJ (2009) Alcohol-related cancers and genetic susceptibility in Europe: the ARCAGE project: study samples and data collection. Eur J Cancer Prev 18(1):76–84
Liu K, Stamler J, Dyer A, McKeever J, McKeever P (1978) Statistical methods to assess and minimize the role of intra-individual variability in obscuring the relationship between dietary lipids and serum cholesterol. J Chronic Dis 31:319–418
Long JS (2009) The workflow of data analysis using stata. Stata Press, College Station
Lumsden J (2005) Guidelines for the design of online-questionnaires. National Research Council of Canada, NRC/ERB-1127, NRC 48231
Lynge E, Afonso N, Kaerlev L, Olsen J, Sabroe S, Ahrens W, Eriksson M, Guénel P, Merletti F, Stengrevics A, Suarez-Varela M, Costa-Pererra A, Vyberg M (2005) European multi-centre case-control study on risk factors for rare cancers of unknown aetiology. Eur J Cancer 41(4):601–612
Miettinen OS (1985) Theoretical epidemiology: principles of occurrence research in medicine. Wiley, New York
Moulin JJ, Wild P, Romazzini S, Lasfargues G, Perdrix A, Peltier A, Bozec C, Duguerry P, Pellet F (1998a) Lung cancer risk in hard metal workers. Am J Epidemiol 148:241–248
Moulin JJ, Clavel T, Chouaniere D, Massin N, Wild P (1998b) Implementation of ISO 9002 for research in occupational epidemiology. Accredit Qual Assur 3:488–496
National Cohort (2012) http://www.nationale-kohorte.de/index_en.html. Accessed 3 Sept 2012
Nurses’ Health Study I, II, III (2011) http://www.channing.harvard.edu/nhs/. Accessed 3 Sept 2012
Olsen J, Christensen K, Murray J, Ekbom A (2010) An introduction to epidemiology for health professionals. Springer Series on Epidemiology and Public Health, vol 1. Springer, Heidelberg/New York
Olsson A, Kromhout H, Agostini M, Hansen J, Lassen CF, Johansen C, Kjaerheim K, Langård S, Stücker I, Ahrens W, Behrens T, Lindbohm ML, Heikkilä P, Heederik D, Portengen L, Shaham J, Ferro G, de Vocht F, Burstyn I, Boffetta P (2010) A case-control study of lung cancer nested in a cohort of European asphalt workers. Environ Health Perspect 118(10):1418–1424
Pearl J (1995) Causal diagrams for empirical research. Biometrika 82:669–710
Pearl J (2000) Causality: models, reasoning, and inference. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Peplies J, Günther K, Bammann K, Fraterman A, Russo P, Veidebaum T, Tornaritis M, Vanaelst B, Mårild S, Molnár D, Moreno LA, Ahrens W, IDEFICS Consortium (2011) Influence of sample collection and preanalytical sample processing on the analyses of biological markers in the European multicentre study IDEFICS. Int J Obes 35(Suppl 1):S104–S112
Peters S, Kromhout H, Portengen L, Olsson A, Kendzia B, Vincent R, Savary B, Lavoué J, Cavallo D, Cattaneo A, Mirabelli D, Plato N, Fevotte J, Pesch B, Brüning T, Straif K, Vermeulen R (2013) Sensitivity analyses of exposure estimates from a quantitative job-exposure matrix (SYN-JEM) for use in community-based studies. Ann Occup Hyg 57:98–106
Pohlabeln H, Wild P, Schill W, Ahrens W, Jahn I, Bolm-Audorff U, Jöckel K-H (2002) Asbestos fiber years and lung cancer: a two-phase case-control study with expert exposure assessment. Occup Environ Med 59:410–414
Reynolds RA, Woods R, Baker JD (eds) (2007) Handbook of research on electronic surveys and measurements. IGI Global, Hershey. doi:10.4018/978-1-59140-792-8
Rothman KJ, Greenland S (1998) Modern epidemiology, 2nd edn. Lippincott-Raven, Philadelphia
Rothman KJ, Greenland S, Lash TL (2008) Modern epidemiology, 3rd edn. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia
Rouch I, Wild P, Fontana JM, Chouaniere D (2003) Evaluation of the French version of EUROQUEST: a questionnaire for neurotoxic symptoms. Neurotoxicology 24:541–546
Rylander R (2002) Endotoxin in the environment – exposure and effects. J Endotoxin Res 8: 241–252
Sandman PM (1991) Session III. Ethical considerations and responsibilities when communicating health risk information. Emerging communication responsibilities of epidemiologists. J Clin Epidemiol 44:S41–S50
Sauleau EA, Wild P, Hours M, Leplay A, Bergeret AR (2003) Comparison of measurement strategies for prospective occupational epidemiology. Ann Occup Hyg 47:101–110
Savitz DA (2003) Interpreting epidemiologic evidence. Strategies for study design and analysis. Oxford University Press, New York
Schwalbe K (2012) An introduction to project management, 4th edn. Kathy Schwalbe LLC, Minneapolis
Stansfeld S, Crombie R (2011) Cardiovascular effects of environmental noise: research in the United Kingdom. Noise Health 13(52):229–233
UK Biobank (2007) Protocol for a large-scale prospective epidemiological resource. Protocol No: UKBB-PROT-09–06 (main phase, amendment one final, 21 March 2007) UK Biobank Coordinating Centre, 1 & 2 Spectrum Way, Adswood, Stockport, Cheshire SK3 0SA
Wacholder S, McLaughlin JK, Silverman DT, Mandel JS (1992a) Selection of controls in case-control studies I: principles. Am J Epidemiol 135:1019–1028
Wacholder S, Silverman DT, McLaughlin JK, Mandel JS (1992b) Selection of controls in case-control studies II: types of controls. Am J Epidemiol 135:1029–1041
Wacholder S, Silverman DT, McLaughlin JK, Mandel JS (1992c) Selection of controls in case-control studies III: design options. Am J Epidemiol 135:1042–1050
Waksberg J (1978) Sampling methods for random digit dialing. J Am Stat Assoc 73:40–46
White E, Armstrong BK, Saracci R (2008) Principles of exposure measurement in epidemiology: collecting, evaluating and improving measures of disease risk factors, 2nd edn. Oxford University Press, Oxford/New York
WHO (2008) Handbook: good laboratory practice (GLP): quality practices for regulated non-clinical research and development, 2nd edn. World Health Organization, Geneva; also available at http://www.who.int/tdr/publications/documents/glp-handbook.pdf. Accessed 21 Sept 2012
Wild P, Moulin JJ, Ley FX, Schaffer P (1995a) Mortality from cardiovascular diseases among potash miners exposed to heat. Epidemiology 6:243–247
Wild P, Refregier M, Auburtin G, Carton B, Moulin JJ (1995b) Survey of the respiratory health of the workers of a talc producing factory. Occup Environ Med 52:470–477
Wild P, Leodolter K, Réfrégier M, Schmidt H, Bourgkard E (2008a) Effects of talc dust on respiratory health: results of a longitudinal survey of 378 French and Austrian talc workers. Occup Environ Med 65:261–267
Wild P, Andrieu N, Goldstein AM, Schill W (2008b) Flexible two-phase studies: a new variant to increase study efficiency to detect effects of rare exposures. Epidemiol. Perspect Innov 5(4): 1–11
Wolff MS, Toniolo PG, Lee EW, Rivera M, Dubin N (1993) Blood levels of organochlorine residues and risk of breast cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst 85:648–652
World Medical Organization (1996) Declaration of Helsinki. Br Med J 313:1448–1449
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this entry
Cite this entry
Ahrens, W., Pigeot, I., Wild, P. (2014). Design and Planning of Epidemiological Studies. In: Ahrens, W., Pigeot, I. (eds) Handbook of Epidemiology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09834-0_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09834-0_13
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-09833-3
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-09834-0
eBook Packages: MedicineReference Module Medicine