MRC Centre of Epidemiology for Child Health
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MRC Centre of Epidemiology for Child Health
UCL Institute of Child Health
30 Guilford Street
London, WC1N 1EH
Tel: +44 (0)20 7905 2362
Research quick links
- Congenital disorders
- Childhood origins of adult disease
- Electronic health records
- Genetic epidemiology
- Growth & development
- Health inequalities
- Infections
- Life course research
- Obesity, nutrition & physical activity
- Research for policy & practice
- Screening & surveillance
- Statistical methods
- Vision & eyes
Centre record linkage group
Professor Ruth Gilbert convenes our record linkage group which discusses issues that arise in our work with electronic health record research and record linkage.
Electronic health records and data linkage
Epidemiological research depends crucially on high quality data about the population. One source of such data are electronic health records. These records often come from different sources and need to be linked and then anonymised so we can use them in research for patient and public health benefit.
Our work includes developing methods for analysing and linking data, as well as identifying how linking available data sources can improve our ability to conduct research and help with health services planning.
Using our secure computing service, epiLab, we are piloting systems for ensuring that data records can be accurately linked and anonymised.
Current and recent research
- Using linked healthcare data to identify children at risk of maltreatment
- The impact of NICE guidelines on the recognition of child maltreatment
- Linkage of health records for children in Millennium Cohort Study
- Unlinked Anonymous - piloting mother-child linkage
- Using primary care data to investigate the impact of antibiotics in pregnancy on childhood outcomes
Using linked healthcare data to identify children at risk of maltreatment
Child maltreatment affects approximately one in ten children, but few are referred to child protection services. There is strong evidence that healthcare professionals under-report child maltreatment, and in some cases this is due to uncertainty about the diagnosis.
Studies are in progress to evaluate how child maltreatment is recorded in routine healthcare records, including hospital admissions and primary care data. Findings are also being compared between countries.
Principal investigator: Ruth Gilbert
More information: Child maltreatment
The impact of NICE guidelines on the recognition of child maltreatment
In 2009 NICE guidelines were published to help professionals recognise when they should suspect or consider the possibility that the child has been deliberately harmed and to record their concerns. We are analysing routinely collected Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data to establish the pattern of child maltreatment-related admissions to hospital before and after the introduction of the NICE guidance.
The study will also explore the patterns of injuries and variations between trusts in how child maltreatment is recorded and compare HES data from England and Wales with data from Scotland and independent datasets.
Principal investigator: Ruth Gilbert
More information: Children's Policy Research Unit website
Linkage of health records for children in Millennium Cohort Study
This study aims to link the children taking part in the Millennium Cohort Study to their electronic health record of hospital admissions, and to explore how possible it is to link to general practice records. Parents of children taking part in this study were asked to give informed consent to this linkage and over 90% of those approached did so.
We will be using the information obtained to understand more about health service use by children who become obese or overweight, or who have developed asthma or allergies in early life.
Principal investigator: Carol Dezateux
Funding: Wellcome Trust
Unlinked Anonymous Survey of Pregnant Women
The centre is collaborating with the Health Protection Agency (HPA) in the Unlinked Anonymous Survey of Pregnant Women. This ongoing surveillance aims to monitor how many women giving birth in the UK are living with HIV, helps to monitor progress in reducing mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and contributes to the estimation of the total number of people with HIV in the UK.
This survey is based on the routine screening samples (dried blood
spots) taken from newborns around 5 to 8 days after birth. After all the screening tests have been carried out, the left-over dried blood spots are
tested for HIV, which indicates infection in the mother not the baby.
This survey includes more than 60% of all births in England. In selected regions, demographic data is collected through temporary linkage to birth registration records via the Office for National Statistics. All samples are irreversibly unlinked from all identifiers and anonymised before HIV testing is carried out.
Principal investigators: Mario Cortina Borja, Pat Tookey
More information: HPA website
Using primary care data to investigate the impact of antibiotics in pregnancy on childhood outcomes
A collaborative study with Dr Irene Petersen at UCL will determine whether antibiotics in pregnancy have any adverse, long-term, neurological effects during childhood.
Principal investigator: Ruth Gilbert
Page last modified on 12 oct 11 17:35
