Meaning & use
epidemiological study
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountablemedicaltechnical
Research that examines how often a disease or health condition occurs in groups of people and what factors are linked to it.
Grammar: Takes a: an epidemiological study of heart disease.
Patterns
- an epidemiological study of something
- an epidemiological study on something
An epidemiological study of 10,000 adults tracked their diet and health for years.
The epidemiological study found a link between air pollution and asthma.
Health officials ordered an epidemiological study of the outbreak.
Word forms
| plural | epidemiological studies |
|---|
Common combinations
- conduct an epidemiological study
- Researchers will conduct an epidemiological study of the region.
- large epidemiological study
- A large epidemiological study followed 50,000 nurses.
- epidemiological study of
- This is an epidemiological study of diabetes.
- population-based epidemiological study
- A population-based epidemiological study measured infection rates.
- epidemiological study found
- An epidemiological study found that smoking raised the risk.
Synonyms and how they differ
- population study
- A population study is a looser phrase and may include non-health research, while an epidemiological study is specifically about health and disease.
- cohort study
- A cohort study is one type of epidemiological study that follows a group over time.
- clinical trial
- A clinical trial tests a treatment on volunteers, whereas an epidemiological study usually observes people without giving a treatment.
Word family
- epidemiology noun
- the science of how diseases spread and affect populations
- epidemiologist noun
- a scientist who studies disease patterns
- epidemic noun
- a widespread outbreak of a disease
- epidemiological adjective
- relating to epidemiology
Commonly confused: epidemiological study or clinical trial?
epidemiological study vs clinical trial
A clinical trial tests a treatment on chosen participants, while an epidemiological study watches how disease appears in a population.
Practice
To see whether a rise in asthma was linked to pollution, scientists carried out an ___ across several cities.
Choose one answer.
An epidemiological study examines patterns of disease in populations. The other options do not describe health research in this way.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “epidemiological study”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.