Definition
A “cohort” is a component of the population who shares a significant experience at a certain period of time or has one or more similar characteristics. A common usage for the term is to describe people born in the same time period as a birth cohort (or generation). In epidemiological terms, it is used to denote a group of individuals sharing a common characteristic or experience, such as the same workplace or living near a waste site, who are observed over time for disease incidence and compared to a group without the characteristic, or to a general population (e.g., cohort study).
“Cohort analysis” is the calculation and analysis of morbidity (or mortality) rates for a particular disease in a birth cohort as they pass through various ages, with different cohorts overlapping at different ages in the same calendar time period.
Historical Background
Cohort analysis began as a tool to describe and understand mortality trends and is now commonly used to identify birth cohorts at...
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Windham, G.C. (2017). Age Period Cohort Analysis. In: Volkmar, F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_13-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_13-3
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