Student's name: Salomi Pathan
Student ID: 7361017
Course: HLSC 2P27 – Research Methods in Health
Institution affiliation: Brock University
Due date: 24th November 2022
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Overall Purpose of the Article
The article is a case-control study that compares groups of diets and nutritional habits
history in individuals with COVID-19 and healthy controls. The article demonstrates that
effective nutrition plays a fundamental role in boosting the immune system, while poor nutrition
result in high infection incidences. Since no research to date evaluates the dietary intakes of
COVID-19 victims, the article compares the history of diet type consumption intake and food
routine between individuals with COVID-19 symptoms and healthy controls. This report
critically appraises the article and has been formatted into various sections. The first section is a
summary of key elements of the article design. A list of criticisms follows it as suggestions for
improvement, and the last section is a synopsis of the article.
Article's Design core elements
The study asks a focused clinical question that guides the research (Zogmann, 2020). The
case-control study has two existing groups that contrast in the outcome. The two groups have
been identified and compared based on some supposed causal attribute. The study has been used
to identify factors influencing a medical condition by comparing the two groups of those with the
condition (the cases) and those without (controls). Each group's clinical outcomes have been
evaluated. The sample size had 505 individuals. 279 were people with COVID-19 symptoms
(cases), and 226 were individuals exposed to the virus (controls). All were in the age bracket of
18-65 years. The design required fewer resources but offered less evidence for casual
interference than other study designs, such as a randomized controlled trial.
Criticism
1. The study population was not recruited through a standardized procedure.
The research was conducted on 505 participants, as described above, and a food frequency
questionnaire investigated the dietary food group's intake for the previous year. Participants with
positive symptoms of the virus were hospitalized or outpatients in a hospital in Iran. The period
was between June and August 2020. A physician confirmed COVID-19 signs in the case groups
by reviewing the patient's medical records. Telephone numbers of the subject were also lifted
from their files and used to contact them. After recovery, the victims were offered the option of
participating in the study. By doing this, the hospital breached the patient's profile's
confidentiality. The hospital gave out confidential patient information without their consent, and
thus, the recruiting procedure was not standard. COVID-19 caused a lot of stigmatizations to the
victims and their families. Getting their confidential information and ambushing them to
participate in the study had the potential to increase the stigma.
The recruiting procedure also has gaps in that participating cases were only those in the
hospital records. The study period was at the pandemic's peak when the hospitals were packed
with patients. Many infections were not reported in hospitals as there was home-based care.
There was also the category of patients who got the virus, developed the symptoms, and healed
without going to the hospital. These individuals represent a major fraction of the population and
have not been captured in the study.
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