 Case series have a descriptive study design; unlike studies that employ an analytic design (e.g.cohort studies, case-control studies or randomized controlled trials), case series do not, in themselves, involve hypothesis testing to look for evidence of cause and effect (though case-only analyses are sometimes performed in genetic epidemiology to investigate the association between an exposure and a genotype).Case series are especially vulnerable to selection bias; for example, studies that report on a series of patients with a certain illness and/or a suspected linked exposure draw their patients from a particular population (such as a hospital or clinic) which may not appropriately represent the wider population.