Related Experiment Videos
Wilhelm Weinberg's 1913 Large Retrospective Cohort Study: a rediscovery
Alfredo Morabia1, Regina Guthold
1Center for the Biology of Natural Systems, Queens College, City University of New York, Flushing, NY 11365, USA. alfredo.morabia@qc.cuny.edu
Abstract:
Wilhelm Weinberg, German physician, founder, and president of the Stuttgart Society for Racial Hygiene, published in 1913 the results of a large, retrospective cohort study entitled Die Kinder der Tuberkuloesen (Children of the Tuberculous). The exposed cohort comprised 18,212 children whose 3,246 fathers and 2,022 mothers died of tuberculosis between 1873 and 1902. The unexposed cohort comprised 7,574 children whose 1,830 parents died of causes other than tuberculosis in 1876, 1879, or 1886. He found that children of tuberculous parents had higher mortality rates and lower fertility than did children of nontuberculous parents. Because of its size, rigorous design, and meticulous analysis, Weinberg's cohort study stands as one of the major epidemiologic works carried out before 1945.
Related Concept Videos
Longitudinal Research
Longitudinal Studies
Bias in Epidemiological Studies
Hardy-Weinberg Principle
Confounding in Epidemiological Studies
Observational Studies
There are three types of observational studies – Prospective, retrospective, and cross-sectional.
Prospective Study
Prospective studies, also known as longitudinal or cohort studies, are carried out by collecting future data from groups sharing similar characteristics. One example of...