Case report and case series

Pankajakshan Vijayanthi Indu; Karunakaran Pillai Vidhukumar

doi:10.30834/KJP.33.1.2020.197

Authors

Pankajakshan Vijayanthi Indu Additional Professor in Psychiatry, Government Medical College, Kozhikode
Karunakaran Pillai Vidhukumar Additional Professor in Psychiatry, Govt. Medical College, Ernakulam. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9251-2788

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30834/KJP.33.1.2020.197

Keywords:

case report, case series, descriptive studies, epidemiology

Abstract

Case reports/series are the basic types of descriptive epidemiologic studies. The distinction between case reports and case series on the one hand, and case series and descriptive/analytic epidemiologic studies, on the other hand, is not sharp. History of medicine has demonstrated how case reports/series had generated or furthered medical knowledge in many situations. External validity and novelty are the key advantages of these studies. They act as â€˜screening studiesâ€™ for deductive epidemiological research. Case reports/series are fraught with biases and lack of strength of evidence to inform clinical decision making. To generate evidence-based information, authors of case reports/series should give attention to the guidelines for maintaining of methodological rigour.

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