Young Angela, Flack Felicity
Research Infrastructure Centres, The University of Western Australia. M320, 35 Stirling Highway Crawley, WA 6009, Australia. Email.
Aust Health Rev. 2018 Sep;42(5):584-590. doi: 10.1071/AH18014.
Objective The aim of this study was to quantify the use of linked data for health and human services research in Australia since the establishment of the Population Health Research Network (PHRN) in 2009. Methods A systematic literature search was performed using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2009 checklist to search for all publications involving the use of Australian linked data between 2009-10 and 2016-17. Publications were categorised by subject, data linked and data linkage unit involved. Results In all, 7153 articles were identified from the initial search, and 1208 were included in the final analysis. An increase in the number of publications involving linked data was observed from 2009-10 through to 2015-16. Most articles (82%) featured data linked by at least one PHRN-funded data linkage unit. The research areas of 86% of publications were able to be classified according to the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision Australian Modification (ICD-10-AM). The number of publications involving cross-sectoral linked data also increased. Conclusions Investment in Australian data linkage infrastructure has seen an increase in the number of research publications involving the use of linked health and human services data. This study identified areas where linked data is commonly used and those where use could be improved. What is known about the topic? Data linkage is a method of bringing together information about individual people, places and events from different sources in a way that protects individual privacy. Individual jurisdictions have reported benefits from research conducted using linked data, including the generation of new knowledge and supporting improvements in the delivery of a wide range of health and human services. There has been significant investment in national data linkage infrastructure in Australia over the past 8 years. To date, there has been no systematic investigation of the effect of this investment on the use of linked population data by the research community. What does this paper add? This paper provides evidence of the increased use of high-quality population-based linked data in research over the 8-year period studied. It demonstrates the application of data linkage across a wide range of health areas and highlights the small but growing number of studies using cross-sectoral data to investigate complex conditions. What are the implications for practitioners? It is important to demonstrate to funders, policy makers, data custodians and researchers the value of robust data linkage capacity as an important national resource. Its use by researchers can bring enormous social and economic benefits by providing a more complete picture of the health and well-being of the community. The range of data collections routinely linked is increasing, as is the pool of researchers experienced in handling and analysing the data. Continued investment in Australia's data linkage infrastructure and the inclusion of other collections including general practice data will augment the use of this infrastructure in expanding the evidence base for policy makers and practitioners.
目的 本研究旨在量化自2009年澳大利亚人口健康研究网络（PHRN）建立以来，关联数据在澳大利亚健康与人类服务研究中的使用情况。方法 使用《系统评价与Meta分析的首选报告项目》（PRISMA）2009清单进行系统文献检索，以查找2009 - 10年至2016 - 17年间所有涉及使用澳大利亚关联数据的出版物。出版物按主题、关联数据和涉及的数据关联单位进行分类。结果 初步检索共识别出7153篇文章，最终纳入分析的有1208篇。从2009 - 10年到2015 - 16年，涉及关联数据的出版物数量有所增加。大多数文章（82%）的特色是至少由一个PHRN资助的数据关联单位关联的数据。86%出版物的研究领域能够根据《国际疾病和相关健康问题统计分类第10次修订澳大利亚版》（ICD - 10 - AM）进行分类。涉及跨部门关联数据的出版物数量也有所增加。结论 对澳大利亚数据关联基础设施的投资使涉及使用健康与人类服务关联数据的研究出版物数量有所增加。本研究确定了关联数据常用的领域以及使用可改进的领域。关于该主题已知的信息有哪些？数据关联是一种将来自不同来源的关于个人、地点和事件的信息汇集在一起的方法，同时保护个人隐私。各司法管辖区报告了使用关联数据进行研究所带来的益处，包括产生新知识以及支持广泛的健康与人类服务提供方面的改进。在过去8年里，澳大利亚在国家数据关联基础设施方面进行了大量投资。迄今为止，尚未对这项投资对研究界使用关联人口数据的影响进行系统调查。本文补充了哪些内容？本文提供了在所研究的8年期间，高质量基于人群的关联数据在研究中使用增加的证据。它展示了数据关联在广泛健康领域的应用，并突出了使用跨部门数据研究复杂情况的研究数量虽少但在不断增加。对从业者有哪些启示？向资助者、政策制定者、数据保管人和研究人员证明强大的数据关联能力作为一项重要国家资源的价值非常重要。研究人员使用它可以通过更全面地了解社区的健康和福祉带来巨大的社会和经济效益。常规关联的数据收集范围在扩大，处理和分析这些数据的研究人员群体也在扩大。对澳大利亚数据关联基础设施的持续投资以及纳入包括全科医疗数据在内的其他数据集，将增加该基础设施在为政策制定者和从业者扩大证据基础方面的使用。
