The British Doctors Study, which began in 1951, was the world's first large prospective study of the effects of smoking to establish a convincing link between tobacco smoking and cause-specific mortality. Richard Doll and Austin Bradford Hill sent a smoking-habits questionnaire to all registered British doctors that October, following up a 1950 case-control study in which they had found that lung cancer risk rose in proportion to the amount smoked. In 1954 the doctors' cohort data confirmed that finding, establishing cigarette smoking as a cause of lung cancer and becoming one of the most influential studies in the history of epidemiology.
Facts
Milestone Year Milestone DateDoll and Hill's preliminary report was published in the British Medical Journal on 26 June 1954; the entity's existing milestone-year (1954) is unchanged. Cross-Tradition Connections
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Richard Doll
WikipediaWikipedia, British Doctors Study sectionQuote, Wikipedia, British Doctors Study section
Four years later, in 1954, the British doctors study, a study of some 40,000 doctors over 20 years, confirmed the suggestion, based on which the government issued advice that smoking and lung cancer rates were related.
2. Oxford CTSU: British Doctors Study
Clinical Trial Service Unit and Epidemiological Studies Unit, University of OxfordStudy overviewQuote, Study overview
In October 1951, Sir Richard Doll and Sir Austin Bradford Hill sent a questionnaire on smoking habits to all registered British doctors.
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