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follow-up

— In treatment comparisons, assessment of study participants after treatment, or the length of time that participants are observed after being allocated to a treatment comparison group

Synonyms:

post-treatment outcome measurement

Full explanation:

Follow-up is the process of monitoring participants in a study to measure outcomes and collect other data, such as adherence to allocated treatment. Follow-up can also refer to the length of time that participants are monitored. Follow-up can last for days or years. Longer follow-up is desirable to measure long-term effects, whenever these are important to people. When long-term follow-up is not available, it is necessary to extrapolate from the results of short-term follow-up to estimate long-term effects.

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