Study in which subjects who presently have a certain condition and/or receive a particular treatment are followed over time and compared with another group who are not affected by the condition under investigation.
Systematic follow-up of a group of people for a defined period of time or until a specified event also known as longitudinal or prospective study.
In epidemiology, a scientific research design that looks forward in time from baseline data. Health status or characteristics are assessed and later reassessed to determine which characteristics preceded or caused newly developed health conditions, historical cohort study.
An inquiry in which a group (the cohort) is chosen for the presence of a specific characteristic at or during a specified time (the independent variable, hypertension, for example) and followed over time for the appearance of particular (presumably) related characteristics (the dependent variables, heart failure and strokes, for example).
An investigation in which a group of people are classified according to their exposure to various risks and studied over a period of time to see if they develop a specific disease, in order to evaluate the links between risk and disease.
A design for human research that involves observing a group, or cohort, of people free of disease, over time to determine what diseases occur in people with particular characteristics or exposures. For example, observing a group of people who had been exposed on the job to a particular industrial chemical would allow the researcher to determine how many of the overall group developed cancer, high blood pressure, or heart disease after exposure and whether the disease rate in this subgroup was higher than the unexposed subgroup. The advantage of cohort studies is that they provide a good measure of disease risk. The disadvantage is that accuracy requires a large number of people in the cohort, which makes such studies particularly expensive and difficult to use.
A systemised follow-up study of people for a specific period of time, or until the occurrence of a defined event such as a particular illness or death. The aim is to follow the disease course and/or the reasons for the participants deaths. Different cohorts may be compared and conclusions drawn about a particular disease or drug treatment.
In epidemiology, tabulation and analysis of morbidity or mortality in a cohort, identified at a particular time and followed as they pass through part or all of their life span.