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Retrospective Study

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Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine

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Definition

A study in which the outcome of interest has already occurred when the study initiated is commonly referred to as retrospective study.

Some investigators have used the terms retrospective and case-control interchangeably. This usage is misleading since study designs other than case-control studies can be retrospective. For example, in a retrospective cohort study (Okasha et al. 2002) examining the relationship between body mass index (BMI) during early adulthood and cancer death, both the exposure and the outcome had occurred at the initiation of the study. University students’ weight and height information was obtained from annual physical records at the University of Glasgow health service from 1948 to 1968. Cancer mortality was determined based on a central registry in Scotland that identifies the cause of death (National Health Service Central Register). Subjects with BMI in the highest quartile were found to be at higher risk of cancer death than individuals in the...

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References and Further Reading

  • Kleinbaum, D. G., Sullivan, K. M., & Barker, N. D. (2007). A pocket guide to epidemiology. New York: Springer.

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  • Okasha, M., McCarron, P., McEwen, J., & Davey Smith, G. (2002). Body mass index in young adulthood and cancer mortality: A retrospective cohort study. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 56, 780–784.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rothman, K. J., & Greenland, S. (1998). Modern epidemiology. Philadelphia: Lippencott-Raven.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biostatistics, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Jane Monaco

Authors
  1. Jane Monaco
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Correspondence to Jane Monaco .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA

    Marc Gellman

Section Editor information

  1. Clinical Communications, Quintiles, Durham, NC, USA

    J. Rick Turner

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Monaco, J. (2019). Retrospective Study. In: Gellman, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6439-6_1068-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6439-6_1068-2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-6439-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6439-6

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