title: Wilhelm Weinberg's 1913 Large Retrospective Cohort Study: a rediscovery.
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.
authors.affiliation: Center for the Biology of Natural Systems, Queens College, City University of New York, Flushing, NY 11365, USA. alfredo.morabia@qc.cuny.edu
authors.forename: Alfredo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Morabia
authors.forename: Regina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Guthold
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D016021:Epidemiologic Studies; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D015993:Life Tables; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010290:Parents; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000266:history* / Q000401:mortality