Case series

A case series is a type of observational study in medicine . It looks at a group of patients with a certain disease without any special measures, such as B. a study-specific therapy, take place ( non-interventional study ).

Case series have the lowest evidence class in evidence-based medicine . For example, in the case of rare diseases that cannot be investigated with randomized controlled studies , they are sometimes the best means of assessing the effectiveness of a measure.

Case series can be divided into retrospectively and prospectively compiled. In the case of case series compiled retrospectively, the question arises of the comparability of e.g. B. diagnostic criteria, while such aspects can be determined in advance in prospective studies.

See also

• Case-control study
• Case report (medicine)

literature

• Bernd Röhrig, Jean-Baptist du Prel, Daniel Wachtlin, Maria Blettner : Types of Study in Medical Research. Part 3 of a Series on Evaluation of Scientific Publications . In: Deutsches Ärzteblatt International . tape 106 , no. 1 . Deutscher Ärzte-Verlag, 2009, ISSN  1866-0452 , p. 262–268 , doi : 10.3238 / arztebl.2009.0262 (English, German: Study types in medical research. Part 3 of the series on the evaluation of scientific publications [accessed on December 7, 2012]).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Martin F. Fey, A. Bührer: Read clinical specialist literature critically . In: Swiss Medical Forum . No. 7 , February 14, 2001, ISSN  1424-3784 , Part I: Tackling in case reports and case series , p. 161–165 ( medicalforum.ch [PDF; accessed December 10, 2012]).