diff --git a/R/CohortTables.R b/R/CohortTables.R
index 8b3f1b5..27816fc 100644
--- a/R/CohortTables.R
+++ b/R/CohortTables.R
@@ -105,9 +105,11 @@ createCohortTables <- function(connectionDetails = NULL,
 
   if (any(unlist(createTableFlagList, use.names = FALSE))) {
     ParallelLogger::logInfo("Creating cohort tables")
-    createSampleTable <-
-      createTableFlagList$cohortSampleTable &&
-        cohortTableNames$cohortSampleTable != cohortTableNames$cohortTable
+    createSampleTable <- ifelse(
+      test = is.null(createTableFlagList$cohortSampleTable),
+      yes = FALSE,
+      no = (createTableFlagList$cohortSampleTable && cohortTableNames$cohortSampleTable != cohortTableNames$cohortTable)
+    )
     sql <- SqlRender::readSql(system.file("sql/sql_server/CreateCohortTables.sql", package = "CohortGenerator", mustWork = TRUE))
     sql <- SqlRender::render(
       sql = sql,
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-CohortTables.R b/tests/testthat/test-CohortTables.R
index 4294a5a..d05e4b6 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-CohortTables.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-CohortTables.R
@@ -161,6 +161,22 @@ test_that("Create cohort tables with incremental = TRUE and partial table creati
   DatabaseConnector::disconnect(conn)
 })
 
+test_that("Cohort sample table does not exist for backwards compatibility", {
+  cohortTableNames <- getCohortTableNames(cohortTable = "cohortSampleTable")
+  
+  # Remove the sample table to make sure the create cohort table works
+  cohortTableNames <- cohortTableNames[-which(names(cohortTableNames) == "cohortSampleTable")]
+  
+  # Create the cohort tables
+  expect_invisible(
+    createCohortTables(
+      connectionDetails = connectionDetails,
+      cohortDatabaseSchema = "main",
+      cohortTableNames = cohortTableNames
+    )
+  )
+})
+
 # drop cohort stats tables --------------
 test_that("Drop cohort stats tables", {
   cohortTableNames <- getCohortTableNames(cohortTable = "cohortStatsDropTest")