Question

Why are Doll and Hill important figures in the history of epidemiology?

Answer 1

during the 20th century, lung cancer was most prevalent in the UK and in the US. but the cause of lung cancer was unknown. Richard Doll and Bradford Hill conducted a study to address the cause of lung cancer and they enrolled a comparison between a group of non-cancer patients - matched by age, gender, and hospital. This was a case-control study. there was one consistent difference between lung cancer patients and the non-cancer controls. the consistent difference was that the cancer patients were more frequently smokers. they are important figures in the history of epidemiology not only for establishing the link between smoking and lung cancer, but for establishing the role of case-control studies.