What Challenges Exist in Studying Long Term Health Outcomes?
Studying long term health outcomes presents several challenges, including:
- Data collection: Longitudinal data collection can be resource-intensive and may suffer from participant dropout. - Confounding factors: Identifying and controlling for variables that can influence the relationship between exposures and outcomes is complex. - Time lag: The prolonged period between exposure and outcome can complicate the identification of causal relationships. - Ethical considerations: Ensuring informed consent and protecting the privacy of participants over long study periods can be challenging.
