IT Quiz Answer – Jul 4, 2024

You are interested in the effect of smoking on the development of arthritis. The optimal study design from a study-quality perspective for answering this question would be a ....

Answer: Cohort Study.

Explanation: Randomized trials are only used to assess the effect of a treatment or other intervention that’s thought to be beneficial. It would be unethical to randomize participants to smoking. So that’s not really a good answer. None of the above is also not correct. So we’re left with two possible answers. Cohort studies are generally thought to be superior compared to case control studies since they allow you to assess exposure status before the disease develops PLUS, they allow you to determine incidences. So cohort study is correct.

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