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Latest news: Linking mother and child records in the ECHILD database
23 June 2022
The ECHILD team is now one step closer to this goal after being granted permission for the records of birth mothers and their infants to be linked. Records will be linked using methods that do not use patient identifiers (such as name, NHS number or full address), as this information is not included in the deidentified ECHILD Database.
This development will help us to understand how the health, education and social care experiences of children during the pandemic have been shaped by maternal health and wellbeing. Read more.
Historical news
Read a fully history of project news articles here.
Resources
This webpage indexes and links to resources that support understanding and use of the ECHILD database:
ECHILD Studies and Reports
- Gestational age at birth, chronic conditions and school outcomes: a population-based data linkage study of children born in England - Paper published by the ECHILD team here:
- Changes in adolescents’ planned hospital care during the COVID-19 pandemic: analysis of linked administrative data - Paper published by the ECHILD team here:
- What makes administrative data research-ready? A systematic review and thematic analysis of published literature - Paper published by the ECHILD team here:
- https://ijpds.org/article/view/1718 (DOI:https://doi.org/10.23889/ijpds.v7i1.1718). April 2022.
- Deficits in hospital care among clinically vulnerable children aged 0 to 4 years during the COVID-19 pandemic - Pre-print published in medRxiv
- https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.12.16.21267904v1. December 2021.
- https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.12.16.21267904v1. December 2021.
- Changes in hospital contacts during the COVID-19 pandemic among vulnerable children and young people - Report published by the ECHILD and NIHR funded Children and Families Policy Research Unit (CPRU) team here:
- ECHILD Stakeholder Event Report: An ADR UK report from the ECHILD Stakeholder Event, highlighting the key messages from government and organisations representing children’s interests regarding the ECHILD Database. This can be downloaded here:
- Ethnic bias in data linkage - from how we collect data, to how we link it, and how we analyse it – the ECHILD project team have written a letter published in The Lancet Digital Health, to highlight that much more needs to be done to tackle the problem, this can be read here:
Data Resources
ECHILD resources
- Data Resource Profile: The Education and Child Health Insights from Linked Data (ECHILD) Database - ECHILD data resource profile published by the ECHILD team here:
- Linking education and hospital data in England: Linkage process and quality - paper published in IJPDS. More information can be found here and the paper itself is available here:
- https://ijpds.org/article/view/1671 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.23889/ijpds.v6i1.1671). September 2021.
- ECHILD Database at a glance: A summary of the key features and strengths of the ECHILD Database can be downloaded here:
- ECHILD Database User Guide: The ECHILD Database spans more than two decades and includes linked school and hospital records for around 14.7 million pupils in England. It was created for the ECHILD project but, later this year, other researchers will be able to apply to access the ECHILD Database through the Office for National Statistics Secure Research Service. Download the user guide for the ECHILD database here:
- ECHILD data catalogue: A catalogue of the NPS and HES data attributes within the ECHILD database is available on request:
- ECHILD code: We place code (such as R and Stata code for the ECHILD linkage evauation) as well as code lists (e.g. ICD-10 code lists of phenotypes of chronic conditions) on Github:
National Pupil Database (NPD) resources
- Data Resource: The National Pupil Database (NPD) - NPD data resource profile previously published by members of the ECHILD team here:
- (https://ijpds.org/article/view/1101 DOI: https://doi.org/10.23889/ijpds.v4i1.1101). March 2019.
- Data Resource Profile: Children Looked After Return (CLA) - NPD CLA data resource profile previously published by members of the ECHILD team here:
- Cohort profile: Children in Need Census (CIN) records of children referred for social care support in England - NPD CIN data resource profile previously published by members of the ECHILD team here:
- https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/9/2/e023771 (DOI: http://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-023771). February 2019.
- UK Government tool to explore data in the National Pupil Database - A tool that allows users to find and explore information about the data that is held in the NPD:
- DfE National Pupil Database - NPD Data Tables - DfE published list of NPD data:
Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) resources
Hospital Episode Statistics Data Dictionary - The HES Data Dictionary contains detailed information on the fields from the admitted patient, outpatient, accident and emergency and all critical care data sets that are collected and used in HES
Data Resource Profile: Hospital Episode Statistics Admitted Patient Care (HES APC) - HES APC data resource profile previously published by members of the CHIG team here:
- https://academic.oup.com/ije/article/46/4/1093/3072145 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyx015). August 2017.
- Resource Report: Understanding Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) - Report that summarise the HES database and its use within cohort and longitudinal studies, by CLOSER: University of Bristol, UCL IoE and University of Southampton.
Videos
- Hear thoughts on the value and potential benifits of the ECHILD database and research study
YouTube Widget Placeholderhttps://youtu.be/axUY81hWi-4 November 2021Dr Nicolas Libuy Rios and Dr Louise Mc Grath-Lone present the findings of the linkage evaluation used in ECHILD and share preliminary results from ongoing studies using the ECHILD data at Population Data BC.
YouTube Widget Placeholderhttps://youtu.be/YMdXEjIAAwI October 2021Christine Farquharson, an IFS Senior Research Economist working on ECHILD, discusses how ECHILD's data can be used to understand educational outcomes.
YouTube Widget Placeholderhttps://youtu.be/XuCTL8d0Lxc October 2021Christine Farquharson, an IFS Senior Research Economist working on ECHILD, discusses the exemplar studies being produced for the ECHILD project.
YouTube Widget Placeholderhttps://youtu.be/-j_ElLTvbjY October 2021Christine Farquharson, an IFS Senior Research Economist working on the ECHILD project, discusses the richness of ECHILD's data from combining health and education data.
YouTube Widget Placeholderhttps://youtu.be/w17NCKq1BZ4 September 2021 - Institute for Government's Data Bites.
Prof. Ruth Gilbert introduces ECHILD and its alignment to cross-government policies that recognise the importance of intervening early to support children and families to give children the best start and maximise their capabilities.
YouTube Widget Placeholderhttps://youtu.be/jfNFa-EsY3k August 2021
The ECHILD Project Partnership Pannel Members answer introductory questions at the April 2021 ECHILD Stakeholder Event.
YouTube Widget Placeholderhttps://youtu.be/LMn2flKliDM April 2021
Dr Louise Mc Grath-Lone uses a presentation from recent engagement with children and young people advisory groups to introduce the ECHILD database.
YouTube Widget Placeholderhttps://youtu.be/Ia--9Gcz05o Jan 2021
ECHILD, a young research advisors views - A young research advisor from the Council for Disabled Children FLARE gives their view on the potential value of the ECHILD database.
YouTube Widget Placeholderhttps://youtu.be/bqSJvTgGzWc Jan 2021
The pandemic and lockdown - A young research advisor from the Council for Disabled Children FLARE discusses the potential impact of COVID-19 and school closures on young people.
MediaCentral Widget Placeholderhttps://mediacentral.ucl.ac.uk/Player/2A2IeIBJ Dec 2020
ECHILD, the innovation and value - Dr Louise Mc Grath-Lone describes how together the different data within ECHILD database can create new understanding and value.
MediaCentral Widget Placeholderhttps://mediacentral.ucl.ac.uk/Player/7e66C477 Dec 2020
ECHILD, the innovation and value for research - Dr Ruth Blackburn details the novel nature of the ECHILD database and the value it can bring to research and decision making.
MediaCentral Widget Placeholderhttps://mediacentral.ucl.ac.uk/Player/f59Affgb Dec 2020
ECHILD's potential value for research - Dr Ruth Blackburn introduces some of the kinds of research the ECHILD Database will support.
MediaCentral Widget Placeholderhttps://mediacentral.ucl.ac.uk/Player/fCj95750 Dec 2020
Research ready ECHILD Database and its value - Dr Louise Mc Grath-Lone describes how the research ready ECHILD database will be valuable for the research community.
MediaCentral Widget Placeholderhttps://mediacentral.ucl.ac.uk/Player/GcEg84CE Dec 2020
ECHILD database's administrative data - Dr Ruth Blackburn introduces the types of administrative data used in the ECHILD database.
MediaCentral Widget Placeholderhttps://mediacentral.ucl.ac.uk/Player/DG0cg144 Dec 2020
ECHILD database and information security - Dr Ruth Blackburn introduces the information security around the ECHILD database.
YouTube Widget Placeholderhttps://youtu.be/MhHP2Hg__y8 Oct 2020
ECHILD, introduced by Prof. Ruth Gilbert at the Dr Database virtual event.
- Other administrative linked data videos from around the web
Vimeo Widget Placeholderhttps://vimeo.com/264239790 #DataSavesLives Animation.
YouTube Widget Placeholderhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_NG0Vb3tec Transition from paediatric to adult services.
MediaCentral Widget Placeholderhttps://mediacentral.ucl.ac.uk/Player/CFGDc8DB Find out more about how using linked data for research can benefit us all.