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A review of published analyses of case-cohort studies and recommendations for future reporting.


Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Sharp, Stephen J 
Poulaliou, Manon 
Thompson, Simon G 
White, Ian R 
Wood, Angela M 

Abstract

The case-cohort study design combines the advantages of a cohort study with the efficiency of a nested case-control study. However, unlike more standard observational study designs, there are currently no guidelines for reporting results from case-cohort studies. Our aim was to review recent practice in reporting these studies, and develop recommendations for the future. By searching papers published in 24 major medical and epidemiological journals between January 2010 and March 2013 using PubMed, Scopus and Web of Knowledge, we identified 32 papers reporting case-cohort studies. The median subcohort sampling fraction was 4.1% (interquartile range 3.7% to 9.1%). The papers varied in their approaches to describing the numbers of individuals in the original cohort and the subcohort, presenting descriptive data, and in the level of detail provided about the statistical methods used, so it was not always possible to be sure that appropriate analyses had been conducted. Based on the findings of our review, we make recommendations about reporting of the study design, subcohort definition, numbers of participants, descriptive information and statistical methods, which could be used alongside existing STROBE guidelines for reporting observational studies.

Description

Keywords

Research Design, Research Report, Statistics as Topic

Journal Title

PLoS One

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1932-6203
1932-6203

Volume Title

Publisher

Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Sponsorship
British Heart Foundation (None)
Medical Research Council (MC_UU_12015/1)
Medical Research Council (MR/L003120/1)
Medical Research Council (G0800270)
Medical Research Council (G0701619)
British Heart Foundation (CH/12/2/29428)
Medical Research Council (MC_U106179471)
British Heart Foundation (None)
Medical Research Council (G0800270/1)
SJS was supported by the Medical Research Council www.mrc.ac.uk [Unit Programme number MC_UU_12015/1]. IRW was supported by the Medical Research Council www.mrc.ac.uk [Unit Programme number U105260558]. MP, SGT and AMW were supported by the British Heart Foundation www.bhf.org.uk [grant number CH/12/2/29428].