Clinical epidemiology focuses on causal links between disease manifestations or therapeutic interventions on the one hand, and disease outcome or prognosis on the other. Clinical epidemiology typically consists of following patients with a certain diagnosis. In such studies, the exposure may be a particular treatment or a certain clinical characteristic, and the outcome may be recurrence of disease, development of a late effect of treatment, death, or some other relevant event. The principal exposure under investigation is frequently a treatment with the potential to reduce the incidence of the study outcome, making it ethically acceptable to consider randomized intervention protocols. Other relevant patient factors (e.g., tobacco and alcohol use) must also be taken into consideration when evaluating trial results.
With 40 years of experience in solving complex scientific and medical problems, Exponent is uniquely qualified to assist in the area of clinical epidemiology. In addition to our recent project experience in assessing various aspects of clinical trial design and analysis, Exponent’s epidemiologists have many years of experience in designing and evaluating clinical trial results, as well as rigorous hypothesis formulation. Additionally, our experience in cancer epidemiology, exposure and risk assessment, and the late effects of cancer treatment, allows us to comprehensively and critically participate in clinical epidemiology projects.