Maternity-baby data study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Maternity-baby data study
IRAS ID
190959
Contact name
Katie Harron
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Royal College of Surgeons of England
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 11 months, 28 days
Research summary
We request permission to use patient-level Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) to support a programme of work on maternal and child health, specifically focusing on how maternal factors prior to and during pregnancy affect childhood service use and outcomes.
We propose to link key characteristics from maternal admission records to hospitalisation patterns for their offspring, and to use this information to provide an integrated approach for understanding infant healthcare use and childhood outcomes.
Firstly, we will analyse HES data to investigate how maternal hospitalisation patterns are related to birth outcomes and childhood readmissions. Determinants of variation in healthcare use and outcomes will be described for a variety of patient groups, defined either by specific diagnoses and/or procedure (e.g. obstetric procedures, pregnancy-related conditions, chronic conditions, mental health or indicators of social risk/adversity).
Secondly, we will bring together information on outcomes of previous pregnancies to investigate how previous birth outcomes and inter-pregnancy interval influence childhood outcomes and hospitalisation patterns.
Finally, we will combine information on healthcare use in mothers and all her offspring, to determine changing influences throughout childhood. This increasingly complex information will help us to understand how determinants of healthcare use change through childhood – i.e. from clinical birth outcomes in infancy to maternal and household influences throughout childhood.
REC name
London - South East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/LO/0012
Date of REC Opinion
24 Feb 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion