Computer Retrieval of Epidemiological Data

Abstract

Clinical and epidemiological data collected on all school children born in Aberdeen, Scotland, in the years 1950 to 1960 were punched on Hollerith cards using multiple punches in a single column and arbitrary codes between columns to permit mechanical card sorting of a deck of single cards. By means of a machine language program, these cards were translated into strictly numerical magnetic tape images compatible with digital computer processing. The data were made accessible for multivariate analysis of the role of physical and socioeconomic factors on the school performance of the children using the Fortran language. This analysis was facilitated by means of a computer-generated scatter diagram displaying the nature of joint frequency distributions among the variables.