The Design and Use of Supportive Epidemiologic Studies

Structured investigation of disease outbreaks or deviations from desired productivity levels do not always lead to definitive answers upon which intervention programs can be based. There is an important role for well-designed supportive epidemiologic studies to supplement outbreak investigations, and the circumstances of their use are described in this article. The design of cross-sectional, case-control, and cohort studies is also discussed, and procedures for data analysis are provided.