Observational research in epidemic settings: a roadmap to reform
Observational studies are critical tools in clinical research and public health response, but challenges arise in ensuring the data produced by these studies are scientifically robust and socially valuable. Resolving these challenges requires careful attention to prioritising the most valuable research questions, ensuring robust study design, strong data management practices, expansive community engagement, and access and benefit sharing of results and research materials. This paper opens with a discussion of how well-designed observational studies contribute to biomedical evidence and provides examples from across the clinical literature of how these methods generate hypotheses for future research and uncover otherwise unattainable insights by providing examples from across the clinical literature. Then, we present obstacles that remain in ensuring observational studies are optimally designed, conducted and communicated.
Authors
- Emily Ricotta (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9928-8275)
- Natalie M. Linton (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5464-0076)
- Colin J. Carlson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6960-8434)
- Elizabeth C. LeRoy
- Marc Lipsitch (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1504-9213)
- Maya B. Mathur (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6698-2607)
- Mary‐Margaret A. Fill
- Jennifer B. Rosen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-8892-340X)
- Sheena G. Sullivan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0856-0294)
- Adia Benton (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9523-5985)
- Nicholas G. Evans (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3330-0224)
- Natalie E. Dean (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3884-0921)
- Annette Rid (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1117-1975)
- Alexandra Phelan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3084-9158)
- Mackenzie Zendt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-6313-5777)
- Fausto Andres Bustos Carrillo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7263-5625)
- John Barugahare (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6420-4756)
- Stephany N. Duda (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6247-9350)
- Emma Chang-Rabley
- Lauren Sauer
- Lisa Federer
- Samuel Angelli-Nichols
Institutions
- Northwestern University (US)
- The Royal Melbourne Hospital (AU)
- New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (US)
- California Department of Public Health (US)
- University of Massachusetts Lowell (US)
- Harvard University (US)
- Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (US)
- Emory University (US)
- Georgetown University (US)
- Vanderbilt University (US)
- United States National Library of Medicine (US)
- Peter Doherty Institute (AU)
- Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security (US)
- Tennessee Department of Health (US)
- Center for Global Health (US)
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (US)
- National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (US)
- University of Nebraska Medical Center (US)
- Makerere University (UG)
- Stanford University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- BMJ Global Health
- Published
- 2025-02-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2024-017981
- Citations
- 10
- Primary Topic
- COVID-19 epidemiological studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 13.68
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Greenwall Foundation
- Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
- National Institutes of Health
- U.S. National Library of Medicine
- NIH Clinical Center
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research