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Which study type is that? A guide to study types

Study and experiment types for Health Sciences and Medicine

Case report


A case report is a detailed description of a single patient's medical experience, including their symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up. These reports often highlight unusual or new medical conditions and can help doctors learn about rare diseases or unexpected effects of treatments. While they are not as strong as large studies, case reports are important for sharing unique medical insights.  

 

Non instructional image related to case reports

 

Useful for addressing:

Observational questions, Therapy questions, Prognosis questions

Publishing a case report

  • Gotschall, T., Spencer, A., Hoogland, M. A., Cortez, E., & Irish, E. (2023). Journals accepting case reports. Journal of the Medical Library Association: JMLA, 111(4), 819. Full Text

 

The library has an institutional fellowship with BMJ Case Reports which covers the cost of submission.
Contact the library team for the membership code.

Further reading and resources

  • Gagnier, J. J., Kienle, G., Altman, D. G., Moher, D., Sox, H., & Riley, D. (2013). The CARE guidelines: consensus-based clinical case reporting guideline development. Global advances in health and medicine, 2(5), 38-43. Full Text
     
  • Graver, C. (2017). Writing Case Reports: A Practical Guide from Conception through Publication. Catalogue Link
     
  • Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI). (2020). Critical appraisal checklist for case reports. https://jbi.global/sites/default/files/2020-08/Checklist_for_Case_Reports.pdf Full Text
     
  • Nissen, T., & Wynn, R. (2014). The clinical case report: a review of its merits and limitations. BMC research notes, 7, 1-7. Full Text
     
  • Riley, D. S., Barber, M. S., Kienle, G. S., Aronson, J. K., von Schoen-Angerer, T., Tugwell, P., ... & Gagnier, J. J. (2017). CARE guidelines for case reports: explanation and elaboration document. Journal of clinical epidemiology, 89, 218-235. Full Text
     
  • Rison, R. A. (2013). A guide to writing case reports for the Journal of Medical Case Reports and BioMed Central Research Notes. Journal of Medical Case Reports, 7, 1-9. Full Text
     
  • Rossor MN: How to write a case report. In How to write a paper. 4th edition. Edited by Hall GM. London: Blackwell Publishing; 2008:71–75. Catalogue Link
     
  • Sohrabi, C., Mathew, G., Maria, N., Kerwan, A., Franchi, T., & Agha, R. A. (2023). The SCARE 2023 guideline: updating consensus Surgical CAse REport (SCARE) guidelines. International Journal of Surgery, 109(5), 1136-1140. Full Text

Example

Hasan, T., Khan, M., Khan, F., & Hamza, G. (2021). Case of Guillain-Barré syndrome following COVID-19 vaccine. BMJ Case Reports CP, 14(6), e243629. Full Text

 

 


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