Australian health cohorts
Cohort studies form part of the health monitoring system that is used to describe chronic disease prevalence and incidence as well as evaluate and plan health promotion. They provide the opportunity to identify early
intervention points that contribute to avoiding health problems – which clearly has health expenditure implications.
The case for their value to population health has been described previously, especially the advantages that they hold over cross-sectional studies and their potential to contribute to informing and testing the impact of policy and programs to benefit population wellbeing. By tracking individuals, cohorts allow for the policy-relevant examination of:
• The effect of, and change in, living circumstances over time
• The complex interrelationships, sequencing, and cumulative effect of factors affecting health
• Long-term effects of population-level programs and policies in the real-world setting.