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Age Period Cohort Analysis

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  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders

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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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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Environmental and Occupational Disease Control, CA Department of Public Health, 850 Marina Bay Pkwy, Bldg P, Richmond, CA, 94804, USA

    Gayle C. Windham

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  1. Gayle C. Windham
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Correspondence to Gayle C. Windham .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, Connecticut, USA

    Fred R. Volkmar

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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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  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-6435-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6435-8

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