What Is the Purpose of Healthcare Research Now?

In this article, we will discuss the answer to the question, “What is the purpose of healthcare research now?” Tune in to find out.

The Purpose of Healthcare Research

The purpose of health research has changed significantly over the past decades. 

In the past, health research was focused on finding treatments for diseases. The goal was to identify the causes of disease, and then to cure them.

Nowadays, health research is focused on preventing disease. 

There are several reasons why this has become the focus, but one reason is that technology has advanced so much.

So, it is now possible to find people who are at risk for developing disease and to change their lifestyles in order to prevent them from developing the disease in the first place.

As an example, if you are 40 years old or older, you should be tested for diabetes every three years. 

If you are found to have diabetes, then your doctor will work with you to change your lifestyle in order to prevent you from developing heart disease or other diabetes-related complications.

There are many different types of health research that are being conducted now. 

But they can be sorted into three main categories: observational research, interventional research, and experimental research.

Observational Research

Observational research is where you make observations about people’s behaviors, lifestyles, or genetics. 

Researchers are attempting to find correlations between certain behaviors or exposures and disease. 

One example of this is that researchers have found that people who exercise have a lower risk of developing high blood pressure. 

This is an observational study because researchers are simply observing people who exercise versus those who don’t exercise. 

They are not putting participants in an intervention group where they must exercise versus a control group where they do not have to exercise. 

Interventional Research

Interventional research is where you intervene with people’s behaviors or exposures to see what effect they have on disease development. 

These studies involve interventions such as dietary modification, exercise programs, and medication administration.  

The goal is to see if these interventions can prevent disease development.

Researchers might intervene in a number of different ways. 

For example, researchers might give subjects a diet that is either high in antioxidants or low in antioxidant vitamins. 

Experimental Research

Experimental research is where you put subjects into groups and administer interventions to them to see if they cause disease development. 

These types of studies can determine cause and effect relationships between exposures and disease development.

As an example, researchers might compare subjects who exercise to those who do not exercise. 

They will then expose the subjects to a particular type of bacteria and see if the bacteria cause disease development. 

They could also look at people’s genetic susceptibility to certain diseases and compare that to their behaviors or exposures. 

Summary

Health research is focused on finding ways to prevent disease. 

There are also three different types of health research: observational, interventional, and experimental research.

To know more about research and development, check out the articles in our blog.