Twenty Years of Data Linkage in The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health

Introduction Linked health record collections, when combined with large longitudinal surveys, are a rich research resource to inform policy development and clinical practice across multiple sectors. Objectives and Approach The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health (ALSWH) is a national...

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Main Authors: Colleen Loos, Gita Mishra, Annette Dobson, Leigh Tooth
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Swansea University 2020-12-01
Series:International Journal of Population Data Science
Online Access:https://ijpds.org/article/view/1500
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author Colleen Loos
Gita Mishra
Annette Dobson
Leigh Tooth
author_facet Colleen Loos
Gita Mishra
Annette Dobson
Leigh Tooth
author_sort Colleen Loos
collection DOAJ
description Introduction Linked health record collections, when combined with large longitudinal surveys, are a rich research resource to inform policy development and clinical practice across multiple sectors. Objectives and Approach The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health (ALSWH) is a national study of over 57,000 women in four cohorts. Survey data collection commenced in 1996. Over the past 20 years, ALSWH has also established an extensive data linkage program. The aim of this poster is to provide an overview of ALSWH’s program of regularly up-dated linked data collections for use in parallel with on-going surveys, and to demonstrate how data are made widely available to research collaborators. Results ALSWH surveys collect information on health conditions, ageing, reproductive characteristics, access to health services, lifestyle, and socio-demographic factors. Regularly updated linked national and state administrative data collections add information on health events, health outcomes, diagnoses, treatments, and patterns of service use. ALSWH’s national linked data collections, include Medicare Benefits Schedule, Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, the National Death Index, the Australian Cancer Database, and the National Aged Care Data Collection. State and Territory hospital collections include Admitted Patients, Emergency Department and Perinatal Data. There are also substudies, such as the Mothers and their Children’s Health Study (MatCH), which involves linkage to children’s educational records. ALSWH has an internal Data Access Committee along with systems and protocols to facilitate collaborative multi-sectoral research using de-identified linked data. Conclusion / Implications As a large scale Australian longitudinal multi-jurisdictional data linkage and sharing program, ALSWH is a useful model for anyone planning similar research.
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spelling doaj.art-6156f3aa10eb4a19be397503eac41f4b2023-12-02T15:52:01ZengSwansea UniversityInternational Journal of Population Data Science2399-49082020-12-015510.23889/ijpds.v5i5.1500Twenty Years of Data Linkage in The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s HealthColleen Loos0Gita Mishra1Annette Dobson2Leigh Tooth3School of Public Health, The University of QueenslandSchool of Public Health, The University of QueenslandSchool of Public Health, The University of QueenslandSchool of Public Health, The University of QueenslandIntroduction Linked health record collections, when combined with large longitudinal surveys, are a rich research resource to inform policy development and clinical practice across multiple sectors. Objectives and Approach The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health (ALSWH) is a national study of over 57,000 women in four cohorts. Survey data collection commenced in 1996. Over the past 20 years, ALSWH has also established an extensive data linkage program. The aim of this poster is to provide an overview of ALSWH’s program of regularly up-dated linked data collections for use in parallel with on-going surveys, and to demonstrate how data are made widely available to research collaborators. Results ALSWH surveys collect information on health conditions, ageing, reproductive characteristics, access to health services, lifestyle, and socio-demographic factors. Regularly updated linked national and state administrative data collections add information on health events, health outcomes, diagnoses, treatments, and patterns of service use. ALSWH’s national linked data collections, include Medicare Benefits Schedule, Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, the National Death Index, the Australian Cancer Database, and the National Aged Care Data Collection. State and Territory hospital collections include Admitted Patients, Emergency Department and Perinatal Data. There are also substudies, such as the Mothers and their Children’s Health Study (MatCH), which involves linkage to children’s educational records. ALSWH has an internal Data Access Committee along with systems and protocols to facilitate collaborative multi-sectoral research using de-identified linked data. Conclusion / Implications As a large scale Australian longitudinal multi-jurisdictional data linkage and sharing program, ALSWH is a useful model for anyone planning similar research.https://ijpds.org/article/view/1500
spellingShingle Colleen Loos
Gita Mishra
Annette Dobson
Leigh Tooth
Twenty Years of Data Linkage in The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health
International Journal of Population Data Science
title Twenty Years of Data Linkage in The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health
title_full Twenty Years of Data Linkage in The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health
title_fullStr Twenty Years of Data Linkage in The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health
title_full_unstemmed Twenty Years of Data Linkage in The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health
title_short Twenty Years of Data Linkage in The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health
title_sort twenty years of data linkage in the australian longitudinal study on women s health
url https://ijpds.org/article/view/1500
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