Observational Study Designs, Essay Example

Obesity and heart disease

For this observational study design obesity and heart failure was selected. The epidemiology of indicate that there is a high incidence. According to the American Heart Association 70% of Americans have a body mass index of more than 30. Therefore, they are considered obese. Further, 13 million children between the ages of 2 – 19 are obese this accounts for 16% of the population. A total amount of 78million adult Americans are obese. Currently, heart disease is the leading cause of death in America (American Heart Association, 2014). Obesity influences high blood cholesterol levels, lowering the good cholesterol (HD Ls). High cholesterol levels are associated with heart disease. Statistics show where obesity also influences development of hypertension and diabetes, which are all associated with heart disease. Besides, there is a very high incidence of hypertension and diabetes among minorities in the country. The numbers are increasing daily.

Most appropriate Observational design

The association between the risk factor and outcome are immense, obesity causes a number of conditions related to heart disease. Before the outcome is realized a number of intermediary disfunctions in the body. As is mentioned previously high cholesterol is a leading cause of heart disease, stroke, heart attack. Therefore when a relationship between the risk factors and outcome are perceived these intermediary variables must also be accounted for in study in establishing reliability and validity (Barnett, K., Mercer, S., Norbury, M., & Guthrie, B, 2012). As such a cross sectional observational study is the choice for this investigation. In observational study designs an inference can be drawn between the risk factor and the outcome. Precisely subjects could engage in a treatment that produces the outcome that has been projected. In my observational study design obese patients are placed in treatment which ultimately could produce heart disease or medical position associated with the outcome. These could conclude high cholesterol levels, diabetes, and hypertension. These conditions are associated with heart diseases one of the outcomes of obesity.

Cross-sectional observational study design in my opinion is the most appropriate intervention for this study. Cross- sectional study will be collecting data on obese parents over a period of time (2-3 years) (Barnett, K., Mercer, S., Norbury, M., & Guthrie, B, 2012).The data will be retrieved from prior studies conducted from obese patients with heart disease. Healthcare research cross-sectional intervention aims at providing data for the entire population recruited in the study. They are descriptive providing opportunities for the researcher to administer a quantitative approach applying statistical interpretation to data analysis. Cross-section data is usually used to monitor the growth of chronic and acute illnesses and to be knowledgeable about how the disease is caused as well as monitor results taken from the intervention ( The PLOS Medicine Editors, 2014).

Strengths and limitations

As it relates to this study the great strength lies in the researcher’s ability to observe the behavior of a medical condition or conditions and draw influences from data collected over time. The cross sectional approach allows the researcher to capture the entire population samples and establish a possibility of generalizing to similar population’s health sane realty risk and outcomes. A limitation however, observational cross-section studies take a very long to me to complete and can become very costly.

Population Health Improvements

My anticipation is first is to develop an understanding with how obesity affects such a large segment of the adult and children population in the United States of America. While the dependent and independent variables may not mandate a study of underlying causes of obesity and its ultimate outcome of heart disease. Observational cross-sectional study could reveal such data. This data can immensely benefit healthcare intervention related to obesity.

References 

America Heart Association (2014) Obesity Information. Retrieved March 18^th, 2015 from http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/WeightManagement/Obesity/Obesity-Information_UCM_307908_Article.jsp

Barnett, K., Mercer, S., Norbury, M., & Guthrie, B. (May 9^th, 2012.). Epidemiology of multimorbidity and implications for health care, research, and medical education: A cross-sectional study. The Lancet, 380(9836), 37-43.

Richard Nahin, Ph.D., M.P.H., Senior Advisor for Scientific Coordination and Outreach. (June 25^th, 2012″Observational Studies and Secondary Data Analyses To Assess Outcomes in Complementary and Integrative Health Care.” National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

The PLOS Medicine Editors (2014) Observational Studies: Getting Clear about Transparency. PLoS Med 11(8): e1001711. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001711