systematic investigations conducted with human participants to evaluate the safety, effectiveness, or other aspects of medical interventions, such as drugs, devices, procedures, or behavioral approaches. They are designed to answer specific research questions about health outcomes, disease prevention, diagnosis, or treatment.
Clinical studies can include interventional studies (clinical trials) where participants receive a treatment or intervention, or observational studies where researchers observe outcomes without assigning interventions.
Example
A university’s Department of Medicine might run clinical research on the genetics of autoimmune diseases, analyzing blood samples from thousands of people. Within that program, it launches a clinical study to test whether a new biologic drug reduces disease activity in patients over 12 months.