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Case-Control Studies

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Evidence-Based Surgery

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Abstract

A Case-control study is an observational research design usually performed when a randomized controlled trial (RCT) is not feasible. A case-control study is particularly helpful when the outcome of interest is harmful, the outcome is rare or the outcome takes a long time to develop. In this chapter, readers will be introduced to this particular study design. The reader will learn how to appraise a Case-Control study that appears in the surgical literature. The surgeon-investigator will learn the key methodological steps that need to be considered before attempting to answer a clinical problem with this study design.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, Division of Plastic Surgery, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    Achilles Thoma & Jenny Santos

  2. Department of Surgery, Division of Plastic Surgery, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    Jessica Murphy

  3. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, Offord Centre for Child Studies, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    Eric K. Duku

  4. Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    Achilles Thoma & Charles H. Goldsmith

  5. Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada

    Charles H. Goldsmith

  6. Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Charles H. Goldsmith

Authors
  1. Achilles Thoma
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  2. Jenny Santos
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  3. Jessica Murphy
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  4. Eric K. Duku
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  5. Charles H. Goldsmith
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Achilles Thoma .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, Division of Plastic Surgery, Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact (HEI), McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    Achilles Thoma

  2. Department of Surgery, Division of Orthopaedic Surgery, Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact (HEI), McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    Sheila Sprague

  3. Department of Surgery, Division of Plastic Surgery, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    Sophocles H. Voineskos

  4. Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact (HEI), McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    Charles H. Goldsmith

Appendices

Appendix 1

Search Results Using Cochrane Library: “Paediatric”, “Cardiac Surgery”, “Chylothorax”

  1. 1.

    Das A, Shah PS. Octreotide for the treatment of chylothorax in neonates. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2010;9: CD006388.

  2. 2.

    Mosalli R, AlFaleh K. Prophylactic surgical ligation of patent ductus arteriosus for prevention of mortality and mobidity in extremely low birth weight infants (Review). Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2008;1:CD006181.

Appendix 2

Search Results Using PubMed: “Paediatric”, “Cardiac Surgery”, “Chylothorax”

  1. 1.

    Day TG, Zannino D, Golshevsky D, d’Udekem Y, Brizard C, Cheyng MMH. Chylothorax following paediatric cardiac surgery: a case-control study. Cardiol Young. 2018;28(2):222–8.

  2. 2.

    Waterhouse SG, Vergales JE, Conaway MR, Lee L. Predictive factors for central line-associated bloodstream infections in pediatric cardiac surgery patients with chylothorax. Pediatr Crit Care Med. 2018; Epub ahead of print.

  3. 3.

    Justice L, Buckely JR, Floh A, Horsley M, Alten J, Anand V, Schwartz SM. Nutrition considerations in the pediatric cardiac intensive care unit patient. World J Pediatr Congenit Heart Surg. 2018;9(3):333–43.

  4. 4.

    Justice LB, Nelson DP, Palumbo J, Sawyer J, Patel MN, Byrnes JW. Efficacy and safety of recombinant tissue plasminogen activator for venous thrombosis after paediatric heart surgery. Cardiol young. 2018;28(2):214–21.

  5. 5.

    Lo Rito M, AlRadi OO, Saedi A, Kotani Y, Ben Sivarajan V, Russell JL, Caldarone CA, Van Arsdell GS, Honjo O. Chylothorax and pleural effusion in contemporary extracardiac fenestrated fontan completion. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2018;155(5):2069–77.

  6. 6.

    Wu C, Wang Y, Pan X, Wu Y, Wang Q, Li Y, An Y, Li H, Wang G, Dai J. Analysis of the etiology and treatment of chylothorax in 119 pediatric patients in a single clinical center. J Pediatr Surg. 2018. E-pub ahead of print.

  7. 7.

    Weissler JM, Cho EG, Koltz PF, Carney MJ, Itkin M, Laje P, Levin LS, Dori Y, Kanchwala SK, Kovach SJ. Lymphovenous anastomosis for the treatment of chylothorax in infants: A novel microsurgical approach to a devastating problem. Plast Reconstr Surg. 2018;141(6):1502–7.

  8. 8.

    Muniz G, Hidalgo-Capos J, Valdivia-Tapia MDC, Shaikh N, Carreazo NY. Succesfful management of chylothorax with etilefrine: Case report in 2 pediatric patients. Pediatrics. 2018;141(5):e20163309.

  9. 9.

    Ok YK, Kim YH, Park CS. Surgical reconstruction for high-output chylothorax associated with thrombo-occulusion of superior vena cava and left innominate vein in a neonate. Korean J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2018;51(3):202–4.

  10. 10.

    Winder MM, Eckhauser AW, Delgado-Corcoran C, Smout RJ, Marietta J, Bailly DK. A protocol to decrease postoperative chylous effusion duration in children. Cardiol Young. 2018;28(6):816–25.

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Thoma, A., Santos, J., Murphy, J., Duku, E.K., Goldsmith, C.H. (2019). Case-Control Studies. In: Thoma, A., Sprague, S., Voineskos, S., Goldsmith, C. (eds) Evidence-Based Surgery. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05120-4_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05120-4_17

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-05119-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-05120-4

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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