Prospective Cohort Studies

At its very core, a prospective cohort study is one in which a group of individuals who share certain risk factors both modifiable and non-modifiable are followed for a pre-specified period of time during which the investigators monitor for the development of a specific outcome(s). These risk factors that are thought to potentially impact the outcome are defined a priori and collected at the beginning of the study and then in real time as the study progresses. At the conclusion of the study, advanced statistical methods such as regression modeling are typically used to help the investigators understand how the risk factors of the study population impact the outcome. In this chapter, we hope to provide the reader with a more in-depth look at prospective cohort studies so that they may better understand the defining features of a prospective cohort study, the types of questions that are best addressed with this study design, the strengths and weaknesses of prospective cohort studies, and what pitfalls to avoid when conducting their own prospective cohort studies.