Weekly Clinical Reflective Journal
Cohort Research
Cohort researches are medical researchers conducted on groups of people to determine the cause of an illnesses and the relationship between health results and risk factors. Cohort researches are the best scientific methods that have measure the effects of a potential risk factor. Cohort researches can either be prospective which are planned before and are carried out for a future time or retrospective which uses the existing data to determine the risk factors for a given condition. This paper will discuss all what entails in a cohort research and the relevant examples.
Prospective cohort study tends to the possible causes of a disease. It is carried out on a large group of people and it may take several years to determine the cause of the disease. Any possible health changes are detected and get linked as a possible cause for the disease. Framingham study of the heart is a perfect of prospective cohort research, which included 5209 men and women participants, and was carried out since 1948 to 2002 in three phases to determine the causes of cardiovascular risk factors. Since 2002, the research is conducted to determine if genetic factors contribute to cardiovascular risks.
The limitations of cohort research are that it cannot to determine the risk factors during emergencies as they rely on data collected for a long time. they only provide clues on the possible causes of a disease rather than providing the actual link between the health and risk factors. They are also costly to run as they involve a group of people that must be monitored for a several years. It can give biased information if the participants die or stop participating in the cohort research.
Valid and unbiased results can only be gotten if all participants are included from the start to the end of the research. Therefore, the research should be conducted within a reasonable period of time to ensure there is no loss of participants.