Soru

A team of rheumatology researchers is investigating a novel serum autoantibody as a potential predictor of systemic sclerosis. The researchers utilize an existing longitudinal health study that originally enrolled 80,000 healthy female teachers in 2005. At the time of enrollment, all participants provided comprehensive health surveys and baseline blood samples, which were frozen and stored. Between 2005 and 2025, 320 of these participants developed systemic sclerosis. To minimize expensive laboratory costs, the researchers retrieve the frozen 2005 blood samples of the 320 women who developed the disease. They also randomly select and retrieve the 2005 blood samples of 1,280 women from the same original cohort who did not develop the disease, matching them by age and smoking status. The researchers then analyze all selected samples to compare the presence of the autoantibody between the two groups. Which of the following best describes this epidemiologic study design?