This information is for reference purposes only. It was current when produced and may now be outdated. Archive material is no longer maintained, and some links may not work. Persons with disabilities having difficulty accessing this information should contact us at: https://info.ahrq.gov. Let us know the nature of the problem, the Web address of what you want, and your contact information.
Please go to www.ahrq.gov for current information.
Advantages of Observational Studies
- RCT's rarely powered for ADE's.
- RCT's have poor external validity.
- May not generalize to the patient population for whom the intervention may be applied.
- Women, children, minorities, very elderly are under-represented.
- Multiple drug choices and alternatives.
- Co-morbid conditions.
- RCT setting, health care providers is "artificial".
- Longer term follow-up is usually achievable.
- Facilitates risk management and risk minimization.
- Enables better translation.
- Interventions that are efficacious under a highly specific set of circumstances often fail to replicate across a wide variety of settings, conditions, patients.
Previous Slide Contents Next Slide 
5600 Fishers Lane Rockville, MD 20857