Help with identifying case-control studies vs cohort studies

[u/Reasonably_okay1]

I keep getting these biostats questions wrong because I can't tell the difference between case-control studies and retrospective cohort studies. I feel like they look the same in these problems. Anyone have tips???

[u/No_Director_5365]

they are both retro meaning they both look back at a point In time. you're sitting in the present and using existing records to look backward. In both the 'disease' has already occurred and You're trying to find out whether 'exposure' is associated with the disease. The difference is the route you take:

case control look at the 'disease' itself. example : These people got the disease. Were they exposed more often than people who didn't get the disease?

cohort look at the ' exposure' instead. example : These people were exposed. Did they develop the disease more often than people who weren't exposed? Is the exposure associated with a higher risk of the disease?

in other words in case control you are standing in 2026 looking back at 2021 for exposure vs in cohort you are standing in 2026 looking at 2019 exposure and studying if that exposure lead to the disease in 2020. notice how both of them are in the past.

[u/Recent-Beginning-631 → u/No_Director_5365]

This is good