Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34007902›Full record

ArticleInternational journal of population data science2021

Use of administrative record linkage to measure medical and social risk factors for early developmental vulnerability in Ontario, Canada.

Natasha Ruth Saunders, Magdalena Janus, Joan Porter, Hong Lu, Ashley Gaskin, Gangamma Kalappa, Astrid Guttmann

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in International journal of population data science, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Natasha Ruth SaundersThe Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada, M5G 1X8.
Magdalena JanusEdwin S. H. Leong Centre for Healthy Children, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, M5G 1X8.
Joan PorterICES, Toronto, Canada, M4N 3M5.
Hong LuICES, Toronto, Canada, M4N 3M5.
Ashley GaskinOfford Centre for Child Studies, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada, L8S 4K1.
Gangamma KalappaICES, Toronto, Canada, M4N 3M5.
Astrid GuttmannThe Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada, M5G 1X8.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundLinkage of demographic, health, and developmental administrative data can enrich population-based surveillance and research on developmental and educational outcomes. Transparency of the record linkage process and results are required to assess potential biases.

objectivesTo describe the approach used to link records of kindergarten children from the Early Development Instrument (EDI) in Ontario to health administrative data and test differences in characteristics of children by linkage status. We demonstrate how socio-demographic and medical risk factors amass in their contribution to early developmental vulnerability and test the concordance of health diagnoses in both the EDI and health datasets of linked records.

methodsChildren with records in the 2015 EDI cycle were deterministically linked to a population registry in Ontario, Canada. We compared sociodemographic and developmental vulnerability data between linked and unlinked records. Among linked records, we examined the contribution of medical and social risk factors obtained from health administrative data to developmental vulnerability identified in the EDI using descriptive analyses.

resultsOf 135,937 EDI records, 106,217 (78.1%) linked deterministically to a child in the Ontario health registry using birth date, sex, and postal code. The linked cohort was representative of children who completed the EDI in age, sex, rural residence, immigrant status, language, and special needs status. Linked data underestimated children living in the lowest neighbourhood income quintile (standardized difference [SD] 0.10) and with higher vulnerability in physical health and well-being (SD 0.11) , social competence (SD 0.10), and language and cognitive development (SD 0.12). Analysis of linked records showed developmental vulnerability is sometimes greater in children with social risk factors compared to those with medical risk factors. Common childhood conditions with records in health data were infrequently recorded in EDI records.

conclusionsLinkage of early developmental and health administrative data, in the absence of a single unique identifier, can be successful with few systematic biases introduced. Cross-sectoral linkages can highlight the relative contribution of medical and social risk factors to developmental vulnerability and poor school achievement.

Indexed as

Child DevelopmentResidence CharacteristicsChildCohort StudiesHumansOntarioRisk Factorschild developmentdata linkageEarly Development Instrumentsocial riskvulnerability

Identifiers

PMID34007902
PMCPMC8107638

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.