Clinical trials as a type of experimental epidemiological study design are a study that comprises patients as subjects. Epidemiology involves measuring the springing up of an infection or other health-related events in a population as only a start (Robertson and Williams, 2009). The process also involves assessing the existing conditions that surround the disease such as whether there is an exposure associated with it. As such, the epidemiological study involves defining the hypothesis that should be studied and should consist of a clear-cut description of the exposure(s) as well as outcome(s). A clinical trial has an objective which is to evaluate a prospective treatment for a disease or to uncover an anticipatory of an illness sequelae like a disability or death. The contacts in a clinical trial are not principal preventives as they do not block the happening of the initial ailment, though they are deterrents of the sequelae of the first disease. For example, a person who has suffered from a myocardial infarction whose diet is modified may stop reinfarction and consequent fatality. Another example is that chemotherapeutic agents given to patients who have cancer may prevent the disease from recurring.
The subjects participating in clinical trials must be identified as having the disease. At the same time, they must be admitted to the study as soon as possible after the diagnosis to allow the treatment assignment to take place in an appropriate manner (Rothman and Greenland, 2005). Subjects with a mild or severe condition that they cannot permit the form or alternative treatment being studied are not included in the clinical trial. Treatment assignments are designed to reduce variants of unrelated factors which could affect the comparison.
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References
Rothman, K., & Greenland, S. (2005). Validity and Generalizability in Epidemiologic Studies. Encyclopedia of Biostatistics. doi:10.1002/0470011815.b2a03129
Robertson, D. & Williams, G. (2009). Clinical and translational science: principles of human research . Amsterdam London: Academic.
