News & Resources

Latest News: New publication from the ECHILD team – Intensive home visiting for adolescent mothers in the Family Nurse Partnership in England 2010–2019: a population-based data linkage cohort study

05 March 2024

A new study published in BMJ Public Health by the ECHILD team evaluates the effectiveness of an early intervention for first time teenage mothers called the Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) in England. This study uses administrative data from health (Hospital Episode Statistics), education and children’s social care (National Pupil Database), and is the largest evaluation of the FNP in the UK to date.

The study found no evidence of an association between FNP and indicators of child maltreatment, which supports findings from previous evaluations of FNP, except for an increased rate of unplanned admissions for maltreatment/injury-related diagnoses up to age 2 years for children born to FNP mothers. There was weak evidence that children born to FNP mothers were more likely to achieve a good level of development, an indicator of school readiness, at age 5 years. FNP mothers were less likely to have a subsequent delivery within 18 months of their index birth.

This study demonstrates the value of linked health and education data. More research is needed to understand which elements of intensive interventions for teenage mothers are most effective, for whom and when. Such evidence could help inform decisions about whether it is better to commission highly intensive services for a small portion of the target population or to extend and enhance universal services to better support all adolescent mothers.  The full paper is available for free at the BMJ Public Health here.

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

• Evaluation of variation in special educational needs provision and its impact on health and education using administrative records for England: umbrella protocol for a mixed-methods research programme - Paper published by the HOPE team showing how to use the ECHILD Database to evaluate the impact of special educational needs provision for children: https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/13/11/e072531 (DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-072531). November 2023.

• Number and timing of primary cleft lip and palate repair surgeries in England: whole nation study of electronic health records before and during the COVID-19 pandemic - Paper published by the ECHILD team here: https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/13/6/e071973 (DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-071973). June 2023.

• Priorities for research using the ECHILD database - A survey of views from children and families conducted in collaboration with Scope - In this survey of parents and children and young people with additional needs, there was support for using the ECHILD database for research.  The three most important research priorities were related to community child health services, GPs health care, and mental health care for children with additional needs. We would like to thank all the children, young people, parents, and carers who participated in our survey, and the Scope team for their advice and distribution of this survey.  The full report is available:

  scope_survey_report.pdf

  scope_survey_report.pdf
  .  April 2023.

• Hospital admissions for stress-related presentations during term time versus holidays / COVID-19-related school closures - Young people with urgent mental health needs often have few alternatives but to come to the emergency department. Emergency acute hospital admissions can therefore signal mental health need and help to identify important gaps in school and community mental health provision. In this research, we used data from Hospital Episodes Statistics - a core component of ECHILD - to examine unmet mental health need using stress-related emergency admissions (with medically unexplained pain, self-harm, mental health-related or externalising behaviours such as substance misuse).  Papers published by ECHILD team members here:

  • COVID-19-related school closures and patterns of hospital admissions with stress-related presentations in secondary school-aged adolescents: weekly time series. The British Journal of Psychiatry - https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-british-journal-of-psychiatry/article/covid19related-school-closures-and-patterns-of-hospital-admissions-with-stressrelated-presentations-in-secondary-schoolaged-adolescents-weekly-time-series/01955547EB2F5DE4DAD42F5A27479813 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2022.113). August 2022.
  • Hospital admissions for stress-related presentations among school-aged adolescents during term time versus holidays in England: weekly time series and retrospective cross-sectional analysis BJPsych Open, 7 (6), e215 - https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bjpsych-open/article/hospital-admissions-for-stressrelated-presentations-among-schoolaged-adolescents-during-term-time-versus-holidays-in-england-weekly-time-series-and-retrospective-crosssectional-analysis/924EE2CD1A8CFAC30E7090674FCEAF72 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2021.1058). November 2021.
• 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:
  • https://academic.oup.com/ije/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ije/dyac105/6589377 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyac105). May 2022.
• Changes in adolescents’ planned hospital care during the COVID-19 pandemic: analysis of linked administrative data - Paper published by the ECHILD team here:
  • https://adc.bmj.com/content/early/2022/05/15/archdischild-2021-323616 (DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2021-323616). May 2022.
• 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.
• 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:
  • www.ucl.ac.uk/children-policy-research/projects/assessing-impact-covid-19-pandemic-vulnerable-children. November 2021.
• 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:

  • echild_database_key_messages_from_stakeholders_aug_2021.pdf

    echild_database_key_messages_from_stakeholders_aug_2021.pdf
• 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:
  • www.thelancet.com/journals/landig/article/PIIS2589-7500(21)00081-9/fulltext (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2589-7500(21)00081-9). June 2021.

Data Resources

ECHILD resources

• ECHILD data visualisation: An overview of records and datasets - A data visual to explore the different types of de-identified records within the ECHILD database.
  • https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/echild/viz/ECHILD-Anoverviewofrecordsanddatasets/ECHILDOverviewofrecordsanddatasets.  June 2022.   
• Data Resource Profile: The Education and Child Health Insights from Linked Data (ECHILD) Database - ECHILD data resource profile published by the ECHILD team here:
  • https://academic.oup.com/ije/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ije/dyab149/6425590 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyab149). November 2021.
• 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:

  • The ECHILD Database - At a glance - v1.0.0 March 2021

    The ECHILD Database - At a glance - v1.0.0 March 2021
• ECHILD Database User Guide: The ECHILD Database spans nearly three decades and includes linked education, social care and health records for pupils in England. It was created for the ECHILD project, but shortly 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:

  • The Education and Child Health Insights from Linked Data (ECHILD) Database - An Introductory Guide for Researchers - v2.pdf

    The Education and Child Health Insights from Linked Data (ECHILD) Database - An Introductory Guide for Researchers - v2.pdf
    Updated June 2023.
• ECHILD data catalogue:

  • The Education and Child Health Insights from Linked Data (ECHILD) Database - Data Catalogue v2.1.xlsx

    The Education and Child Health Insights from Linked Data (ECHILD) Database - Data Catalogue v2.1.xlsx
    - Updated October 2023.

• 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:
  • https://github.com/UCL-CHIG

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:
  • https://academic.oup.com/ije/article/45/3/716/2572883 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyw117). July 2016.
• 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:
  • https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-for-department-for-education-dfe-personal-data#data-tables
  • https://find-npd-data.education.gov.uk/
• DfE National Pupil Database - NPD Data Tables - DfE published list of NPD data:
  • https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1044839/NPD_Data_Tables_Oct21.xlsx.  October 2021.

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

  • https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/data-tools-and-services/data-services/hospital-episode-statistics/hospital-episode-statistics-data-dictionary.  February 2022.

• 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.
  • https://www.closer.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/CLOSER-resource-understanding-hospital-episode-statistics-2018.pdf. April 2018.

Videos

Hear thoughts on the value and potential benifits of the ECHILD database and research study

 

YouTube Widget Placeholderhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hR3FUd33Rmc   May 2023 Katie Harron describes how ECHILD is being used in research to improve services and benefit large proportions of the population.  This video is part of the HDR UK's 'Your Data in Action' series, 'How is data making a difference to you and your children’s lives?'	YouTube Widget Placeholderhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea_aCh2aUYU     June 2023 Kate Lewis and Ruth Gilbert describe how ECHILD is being used to explore variation in school-recorded SEN for children with major congenital anomalies.
YouTube Widget Placeholderhttps://youtu.be/axUY81hWi-4 November 2021 Dr 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 2021 Christine 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 2021 Christine 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 2021  Christine 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/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.	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/DG0cg144 Dec 2020 ECHILD database and information security - Dr Ruth Blackburn introduces the information security around the ECHILD database.