1. How to Design a Case Series

Designing a case series involves:

• Selection of Cases: Clearly define inclusion and exclusion criteria (e.g., patients with confirmed diagnosis over a specific time period).

• Data Source: Use EMRs, clinical logs, or registries. Ensure systematic data collection.

• Ethical Approval: Required even for retrospective series.

• Consistency: Standardize what and how data is collected.

🧠 Tip: Avoid selection bias by choosing consecutive cases instead of cherry-picking.

📏 2. Key Measures to Report

Include:

• Demographics: Age, sex, ethnicity, comorbidities

• Clinical Presentation: Symptoms, physical exam findings

• Diagnosis: Imaging, labs, pathology

• Interventions: Medications, surgeries, therapies

• Outcomes: Recovery, complications, mortality

• Timeline: Onset → Diagnosis → Treatment → Outcome

📊 Consider including summary tables, bar charts, or timelines for clarity.

📚 3. Classic Examples of Case Series

✅ Example: Early Reports of COVID-19 in Wuhan (Huang et al., Lancet 2020)

• Cases: 41 patients admitted with confirmed SARS-CoV-2.

• Measures Reported: Fever, cough, lymphopenia, CT findings.

• Findings: Identified key clinical symptoms and highlighted ICU needs.

• Impact: Helped shape early global COVID-19 response.

✅ Example: Thalidomide & Birth Defects

• Findings: A case series of infants with limb abnormalities linked to maternal thalidomide use.

• Impact: Sparked global drug regulation and monitoring systems.

🧪 4. Can You Use Statistics in Case Series?

Mostly descriptive statistics like:

• Frequencies & percentages

• Mean, median, standard deviation

• Graphs to show trends or severity scales

🚫 No control group → inferential statistics like p-values are generally not appropriate.