Data for Reproductive Health Across the Life Course

This research project will look at existing health data, examine inequalities and determine whether it is possible and desirable to create a linked reproductive health dataset. 

Background

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Information about people’s reproductive health is spread across separate datasets (collections of data) held by different organisations.  

Methods  

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We will conduct a rapid review to find examples of reproductive health data linkage. We will work with interested parties to create a list of existing datasets, assess data quality and explore potential for linkage.   

We will work with experts by experience to explore the acceptability of linking reproductive health data to understand concerns and how these could be addressed. Some datasets are currently un-linkable because they are completely anonymous; this work will explore whether this needs to remain the case.  

Depending on our findings, we will create and make available a secure, linked reproductive health data resource.    

We will focus on inequalities throughout, exploring who or what is missing from existing data and working with experts by experience to address these gaps.   

Policy Relevance & Dissemination  

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Linked data will improve policy development at a national, regional and local level, ensuring it is focused on areas or populations of need, and help understand the impacts of existing policy.   

We will utilise different communication channels and methods to ensure the information that we share at the end of the project is specific to and accessible for different groups of people. These may include briefings, videos, blogs and frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the data and how it is being used, and our reflections as a team on lessons learnt.  

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The NIHR Policy Research Unit in Reproductive Health is part of the NIHR and hosted by UCL.