Subscribe to AICR's monthly eNews and email updates!
Check off any additional emails you would like to receive before hitting submit.
Home Our Cancer Research Making Sense of the Science Studying Cancer The Diet-Cancer Mystery: Epidemiological Studies
Solving the Diet-Cancer Mystery:
Scientific Studies Provide Clues
Epidemiological Studies:What Are They?
Epidemiological studies investigate the overall risk of a kind of disease within specific groups of people.
For example, an epidemiological study might investigate how diet affects the risk of breast cancer in African-American women who live in rural areas. These studies are observational: Scientists watch what’s going on, but they don’t try to change it. Strong evidence can and does arise from epidemiological studies, but remember: detectives can’t build an ironclad case out of circumstantial evidence alone.
There are three major types of epidemiological studies: Ecologic Studies, Cohort Studies and Case-Control Studies.
