Kohorte

Kohorte is the German term for a cohort, referring to a group of individuals who share a defining characteristic and are followed over time for research. In fields such as epidemiology, demography, sociology and public health, cohorts are used to observe how factors like age, year of birth or exposure to a risk influence outcomes. The corresponding study design is called a Kohortenstudie in German, equivalent to a cohort study in English. A birth cohort (Geburtskohorte) follows people born in a specific period, while other cohorts may be defined by exposure, treatment, occupation, or geography. By tracking members over time, researchers assess incidence, progression, or long-term effects of interventions and compare different cohorts to identify patterns or causal inferences.

Etymology: Kohorte is borrowed from French cohorte, which in turn derives from Latin cohors, originally meaning a guard unit or enclosed group. In German, the term acquired the broader sense of a group of people linked by a common characteristic and observed longitudinally. The plural form is Kohorten; the singular is die Kohorte.

In usage, Kohorte emphasizes temporal or exposure-based grouping rather than a mere static sample. It is distinct from a simple “Gruppe” (group) or “Teilgruppe” (subgroup) by its defined starting point and the trajectory observed over time. Related terms include Kohortenanalyse and historische Kohorten, used in demography and epidemiology.