Wolfe F
University of Kansas School of Medicine, Wichita, USA.
J Rheumatol. 1999 Feb;26(2):469-72.
Longitudinal observational studies (LOS) provide key information about outcomes and treatment effectiveness that are not available from other types of investigations, including randomized controlled trials. Although LOS are easy to perform, they are difficult to perform correctly. Major problems include recruitment, retention, and relevance, but the central problems in LOS are bias, understanding the nature of the biases, and reporting the biases. To advance the quality and validity of LOS there must be a uniform requirement for reporting detailed data that includes details about the sampled population and the sampling methods, the rationale for the selection of control subjects, the probable biases, and estimates of the extent and consequences of the biases. Sufficient covariates should be collected so that where possible statistical adjustment for bias can be made.
纵向观察性研究（LOS）提供了关于结局和治疗效果的关键信息，而这些信息是其他类型的研究（包括随机对照试验）所无法提供的。尽管纵向观察性研究易于开展，但要正确实施却很困难。主要问题包括招募、保留和相关性，但纵向观察性研究的核心问题是偏倚、理解偏倚的性质以及报告偏倚。为了提高纵向观察性研究的质量和有效性，必须对报告详细数据有统一要求，这些数据应包括关于抽样人群和抽样方法的详细信息、选择对照对象的理由、可能存在的偏倚以及对偏倚程度和后果的估计。应收集足够的协变量，以便在可能的情况下对偏倚进行统计调整。
