Usefulness and Validity
A case report is a type of anecdotal evidence. As such, it is less scientifically rigorous than controlled clinical data involving a larger sample size. Proponents argue that case reports have value within scientific method:
- They permit discovery of new diseases and unexpected effects (adverse or beneficial) as well as the study of mechanisms, and they play an important role in medical education. Case reports and series have a high sensitivity for detecting novelty and therefore remain one of the cornerstones of medical progress; they provide many new ideas in medicine.
Whereas randomized clinical trials are usually only inspect one variable or very few variables, rarely reflecting the full picture of a complicated medical situation, the case report can detail many different aspects of the patient’s medical situation (e.g. patient history, physical examination, diagnosis, psychosocial aspects, follow up).
Read more about this topic: Case Report
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