ABSTRACT
A cross-sectional design (CSD) is a nonexperimental epidemiologic design that is feasible and ethical when randomized clinical trial cannot be conducted and other nonexperimental designs are less feasible or inefficient. This design basically assesses the association between diseases or health-related events and other variables or factors of interest as potential risk factors in a defined population at a particular time. Contrary to the sampling method involved in case-control design, cross-sectional studies obtain data on exposure and disease status at the same time, implying the prevalence measure and not disease incidence data.
