Citation

Rodgers SE, Lyons RA, Dsilva R, Jones KH, Brooks CJ, Ford DV, John G, Verplancke JP. J. Public Health (Oxford) 2009; 31(4): 582-588.

Affiliation

Centre for Health Information Research and Evaluation, School of Medicine, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK. s.e.rodgers@swansea.ac.uk

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Oxford University Press)

DOI

10.1093/pubmed/fdp041

PMID

19447812

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The necessity of aggregating health data over areas can impede our understanding of health determinants. METHODS: We demonstrate the possibility of creating anonymous links between individual residences and the local environment using digital map data and a data linkage system. RESULTS: Digital map data were used successfully to anonymously link 1.3 million addresses to the local environment. The data linkage system allows detailed environment data surrounding each residence to be linked both to each resident therein and to their medical records. CONCLUSIONS: Local environment data specific to each house can be effectively and anonymously linked to the population registered with the National Health Service. Our integrated approach potentially enables flexible fine-scale, large-area observational studies of communities and health.

Language: en