EXPOSURE SUSPICION BIAS:

Knowledge of a subject’s disease status may influence both the intensity and outcome of a search for exposure to the putative cause¹. Case-control studies (where the retrospective search for unknown exposures of known diseased persons is the objective) may be most threaten by this bias. Arguably, this bias is a specific sub-type of Recall Bias. The definition of Exposure Suspicion Bias is similar to the definition of Diagnostic Suspicion Bias, although in regards to biased measurement of the exposure(s) instead of the disease/diagnosis. Also see: Diagnostic Suspicion Bias, Recall Bias, and Information Bias.

Reference:

1. Sackett DL. Bias in analytic research. J Chronic Dis. 1979;32 (1-2):51-63. (Link to Reference)