Clinical Guides: Health Research Study Designs: Case Reports

A case report, or a case study, is an observational in-depth study of a single patient. A case series is a group or series of case reports involving patients who were given similar treatment.

They can be published quickly and are useful for novel conditions, however, they have limited application to the wider population.

Requirements:

At least 3 months and 1 team member.
Case studies should adhere to the CARE guidelines for reporting.
You may need to obtain ethics approval and informed consent.

How to do a case study

Examples
Hosseini, S., et al. (2023). A rare case of ectopic partial molar pregnancy following IVF. JBRA assisted reproduction, 27(4), 752–753.
Yu, H., et al. (2022). Rare Case of Cystic Lymphangioma Transforming Into Lymphangiosarcoma: A Case Report. Frontiers in oncology, 12, 814023.

Recommended resources:

Bağatur, A. E., et al. (2014). How to write a case report? or...not write at all? Joint diseases & related surgery, 25(3), 165–167.
Benitez Sanchez, S., et al. (2023). How to write a case report/series. American journal of surgery, 226(6), 926–928.
JBI. (2017). Checklist for case reports.
Maclean A. B. (2006). How to write a Case Report. Journal of obstetrics and gynaecology, 26(5), 395.
Riley, D. S., et al. (2017). CARE guidelines for case reports: explanation and elaboration document. Journal of clinical epidemiology, 89, 218–235.
Sun Z. (2013). Tips for writing a case report for the novice author. Journal of medical radiation sciences, 60(3), 108–113.

American College of Cardiology. (2019). JACC: Case Reports: How to Write a Case Report.

Case reports