Public Health
Suppose that you have been hired by university student health services to design a prospective cohort study to assess the following hypothesis among undergraduate students: Raw sushi consumption increases the risk of acute diarrheal episodes.Be sure that your design addresses the following elements:
- Refine the study hypothesis so that it is as specific as possible and contains all elements of a “good” hypothesis.
- How will you find and recruit participants?
- Will the study be retrospective or prospective?
- How will you define the exposure of interest?
- How will you define the outcome?
- What other information do you want to know about participants that may be related to the exposure of interest and/or the outcome (potential confounders)? Of these, what will you be able to collect and what will you be unable to collect?
- Which measures of disease frequency and association will you calculate?
- What are the strengths and limitations of your study?
- What other information would you like to know to design this study?
Expert Solution Preview
Introduction:
The purpose of this study design is to assess the hypothesis that raw sushi consumption increases the risk of acute diarrheal episodes among undergraduate students. In order to carry out an effective study, it is important to refine the study hypothesis to ensure it is specific, and contains all elements of a “good” hypothesis. This will be done through the use of a prospective cohort study.
1. Refining the study hypothesis:
The hypothesis of this study will be refined to indicate that raw sushi consumption is a risk factor for acute diarrheal episodes.
2. Finding and recruiting participants:
Participants will be recruited from the undergraduate student population within the university health services. Recruitment will be done through flyers, newspaper advertisements, and announcement postings.
3. Retrospective or prospective study:
The study will be designed as a prospective cohort study.
4. Defining the exposure of interest:
The exposure of interest will be defined as any consumption of raw sushi in the past week. This information will be collected through interviews and questionnaires.
5. Defining the outcome:
The outcome will be defined as an episode of acute diarrhea within five days of sushi consumption. This information will be collected through questionnaires and medical records.
6. Identifying potential confounders:
Other information that will be collected include age, gender, dietary habits, duration of symptoms, and any other relevant medical history. These measures will be used to identify potential confounders such as preexisting gastrointestinal conditions.
7. Disease frequency and association measures:
Disease frequency will be calculated by dividing the number of acute diarrhea episodes by the total number of participants. The association measures will include relative risks, odds ratios, and hazard ratios.
8. Strengths and limitations of the study:
Strengths of the study include the use of a prospective cohort study design, and the ability to collect current and relevant data. The limitations include the potential for recall bias, the self-reported nature of data collected, and the potential for selection bias.
9. Additional information:
To design this study more effectively, it would be useful to collect information about specific sushi ingredients and storage conditions. This would help to identify potential sources of contamination and develop control measures.
