A cross-sectional study is an observational research design in which data are collected from a defined population at a single point in time to estimate the prevalence of a condition, behaviour or characteristic and to examine associations between variables. Because exposure and outcome are measured simultaneously, t…
A cross-sectional study is an observational research design in which data are collected from a defined population at a single point in time to estimate the prevalence of a condition, behaviour or characteristic and to examine associations between variables. Because exposure and outcome are measured simultaneously, the design provides a "snapshot" of a population and is well suited to descriptive epidemiology, needs assessment and hypothesis generation, though it generally cannot establish temporal sequence or causation. Cross-sectional studies are widely used in public health and clinical research because they are relatively rapid and economical, can survey large and diverse samples, and support estimation of disease burden and identification of correlates. Limitations include susceptibility to selection and recall bias and the inability to distinguish cause from effect. Research published in this journal illustrates the breadth of the method across health topics and settings, including cardiovascular risk factors among people treated for HIV, dietary diversity and nutritional status among adolescent pregnant women, knowledge of sexual and reproductive health among adolescents, emotional intelligence among medical postgraduates, complementary feeding hygiene practices, and out-of-pocket health expenditure among the elderly. These examples demonstrate how cross-sectional surveys are applied to measure prevalence, characterise populations and explore associations across nutrition, infectious disease, maternal and reproductive health, and health-services research.
12 peer-reviewed articles, ranked by relevance. Each links to its DOI.
The 12 articles above have been cited 67 times in the scholarly literature. Citation data via OpenAlex and Crossref, updated Jun 2026.
A sample of recent works citing this journal's research on Cross-Sectional Study, linking to each citing work.