What Methods Are Used to Study Biological Effects?

Epidemiologists use various study designs to investigate biological effects, including:

- Cohort studies: Follow a group of people over time to observe the development of diseases.
- Case-control studies: Compare individuals with a disease to those without to identify potential causes.
- Cross-sectional studies: Examine the relationship between diseases and other variables at a single point in time.
- Randomized controlled trials (RCTs): Considered the gold standard, RCTs randomly assign participants to intervention or control groups to determine the effect of a treatment or exposure.