Application

Application Question: Epidemiological studies are applicable to communicable and non-communicable diseases. Childhood obesity is an area that is receiving more attention in public health due to the multiple morbidities that emerge as a result of this condition. Imagine that you are interested in conducting a case-control or cross-sectional study proposal of childhood obesity vs. birth weight (prenatal and early life influences). Below are links to a cross-sectional study and a case-control study. Both articles below address prenatal influences on childhood obesity and birth weight, using these two different approaches. Bammann, K., Peplies, J., De Henauw, S., Hunsberger, M., Molnar, D., Moreno, L. A., Tornaritis, M., Veidebaum, T., Ahrens, W., Siani, A., & IDEFICS Consortium (2014). Early life course risk factors for childhood obesity: the IDEFICS case-control studyLinks to an external site.. PloS one, 9(2), e86914. https://doi(dot)org/10.1371/journal.pone.0086914 Rees, A., Thomas, N., Brophy, S., Knox, G., & Williams, R. (2009). Cross-sectional study of childhood obesity and prevalence of risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes in children aged 11-13Links to an external site.. BMC Public Health, 9(1), 1–6. Please select one of the following questions as your area of focus for your discussions: Using the articles that have been provided, consider the following: How would you select cases and controls for this study and how would you define exposure and outcome variables for a case-control study design? What other factors would you control for? What approach would you use to design a proposal measuring the effect of birth weight on childhood obesity for a cross-sectional study design? Are there other factors that would you control for?