7.1 - Cross sectional studies

Rationale and Design Section

A cross-sectional study is a study with individual-level variables that measures exposure and disease at one point in time. In other words, cross-sectional studies take a snapshot of a population. These types of studies are often used for public health planning.

Advantages & Disadvantages of cross-sectional studies

Advantages

  • Highly generalizable when based on a sample of the general population
  • Low cost and short time period needed to conduct

Disadvantages

  • Cannot infer temporal sequence between exposure and disease
  • Identify a high proportion of prevalent cases of long duration
  • Can suffer from the “healthy worker effect” - where those who remain employed tend to be healthier than those who leave employment.

Examples in Research Section

This includes the National Center for Health Statistics study on Products - Data Briefs - Number 443 - August 2022 (cdc.gov)
A key finding = The percentages of both men and women who met the guidelines for both aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities decreased with age.

a graph showing the percentages of both men and women who met the guidelines for both aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities

 

This includes Talking With Children About Prognosis: The Decisions and Experiences of Mothers With Metastatic Cancer

A Key finding = Nearly 80% (n = 176) of mothers with metastatic cancer reported they had discussed their prognosis with at least one of their children; 79% identified at least one barrier to these discussions.

a pie chart showing the percentage of women with breast cancer and if they told their children about their diagnosis

This includes Occupational health nurses’ personal attitudes toward smoking: A cross‐sectional study

A key finding =

Table 2

Relationship between the training experience in smoking cessation and the perceived harmfulness
of smoking and social responsibility of healthcare professionals
Opinion Training Experience a
(n = 67)		 No Training Experience b
(n = 41)		 Total
 		 P-value*


 
n % n % n %
Smoking is harmful to health
Strongly Agree 62 92.5% 31 75.6% 93 86.1% .024
Agree 5 7.5% 9 22.0% 14 13.0%  
Undecided 0 0.0% 1 2.4% 1 0.9%  
Disagree &
Strongly Disagree		 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 0 0.0%  
Healthcare professionals have a social responsibility to warn smokers of the harmful effects of smoking.
Strongly Agree 42 62.7% 15 36.6% 57 52.8% .017
Agree 22 32.8% 20 48.8% 42 38.9%  
Undecided 3 4.5% 6 14.6% 9 8.3%  
Disagree &
Strongly Disagree		 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 0 0.0%  

a Nurses with training experience in interventions to stop smoking.

b Nurses without training experience in interventions to stop smoking.

* Fischers exact test.