An investigator uses data from National Family Health Survey to examine the association between maternal education level (low/medium/high) and under-5 mortality, adjusting for wealth quintile and residence. This study design is BEST classified as:

• A Cross-sectional analytic study ✓
• B Ecological study
• C Nested case-control study
• D Retrospective cohort study

Explanation

NFHS collects data from individual households at one point in time, and the analysis links individual-level exposure (maternal education) to individual-level outcome (child mortality status), with adjustment for confounders — this is a cross-sectional analytic study. An ecological study would use group-level aggregated data. A nested case-control or retrospective cohort requires a defined cohort with follow-up, which NFHS does not provide.

Reference: Park's Textbook of Preventive and Social Medicine, 27th ed.

High-yield for: NEET PGINI-CETNExTFMGEUSMLEPLABMRCP

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