Levels of disability in the older population of England: Comparing binary and ordinal classifications.

BACKGROUND: Recent studies suggest the importance of distinguishing severity levels of disability. Nevertheless, there is not yet a consensus with regards to an optimal classification. OBJECTIVE: Our study seeks to advance the existing binary definitions towards categorical/ordinal manifestations of disability. METHODS: We define disability according to the WHO's International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) using data collected at the baseline wave of the English Longitudinal Study of Aging, a longitudinal study of the non-institutionalized population, living in England. First, we identify cut-off points in the continuous disability score derived from ICF to distinguish disabled from no-disabled participants. Then, we fit latent class models to the same data to find the optimal number of disability classes according to: (i) model fit indicators; (ii) estimated probabilities of each disability item; (iii) association of the predicted disability classes with observed health and mortality. RESULTS: According to the binary classification criteria, about 32% of both men and women are classified disabled. No optimal number of classes emerged from the latent class models according to model fit indicators. However, the other two criteria suggest that the best-fitting model of disability severity has four classes. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings contribute to the debate on the usefulness and relevance of adopting a finer categorization of disability, by showing that binary indicators of disability averaged the burden of disability and masked the very strong effect experienced by individuals having severe disability, and were not informative for low levels of disability

Evaluation of pushing out of children from all English state schools: Administrative data cohort study of children receiving social care and their peers

Background: Pushing out (off-rolling) occurs where pupils are illegally excluded from school. Those receiving children's social care (CSC) services (children in need (CiN), on child protection plans (CPPs) or looked after (CLA)) are thought to be at increased risk, but limited evidence inhibits understanding of this phenomenon. The extent of pushing out can be inferred from non-enrolment in administrative data. Objective: To estimate proportions of children not enrolled across secondary school (aged 11–16, up to year 11) and to explore the association between CSC history and non-enrolment in year 10/11. Participants and setting: >1 M pupils in year 7 (aged 11/12) in English state schools, 2011/12 and 2012/13. Methods: We estimated the proportion of children not enrolled across years 8 to 11, disaggregated by CSC history. We assessed with regression modelling the association between CSC history and non-enrolment in years 10/11. Results: Of children without CSC history, 3.8% had ≥1 year not enrolled by year 11. This was higher in those with a history CiN (8.1%), CPP (9.4%) or CLA (10.4%) status. The odds of non-enrolment in years 10/11 were higher among those with CLA history vs non-exposed peers (OR 4.76, 95% CI 4.49–5.05) as well as in those with CPP history (3.60, 3.39–3.81) and CiN history (2.53, 2.49–2.58). History of special educational needs further increased non-enrolment odds, including after confounder adjustment. Conclusions: Findings imply that children with CSC history are more likely to be pushed out from school than children without, especially those with special educational needs

Disability and all-cause mortality in the older population: evidence from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.

Despite the vast body of literature studying disability and mortality, evidence to support their association is scarce. This work investigates the role of disability in explaining all-cause mortality among individuals aged 50+ who participated in the English Longitudinal Study of Aging. The aim is to explain the gender paradox in health and mortality by analysing whether the association of disability with mortality differs between women and men. Disability was conceived following the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), proposed by the WHO, that conceptualizes disability as a combination of three components: impairment, activity limitation and participation restriction. Latent variable models were used to identify domain-specific factors and general disability. The association of the latter with mortality up to 10 years after enrolment was estimated using discrete-time survival analysis. Our work confirms the validity of the ICF framework and finds that disability is strongly associated with mortality, with a time-varying effect among men, and a smaller constant effect for women. Adjusting for demographic, socioeconomic and behavioural factors attenuated the association for both sexes, but overall the effects remained high and significant. These findings confirm the existence of gender paradox by showing that, when affected by disability, women survive longer than men, although if men survive the first years they appear to become more resilient to disability. Sensitivity analyses suggested that the gender paradox cannot be solely explained by gender-specific health conditions: there must be other mechanisms acting within the pathway between disability and mortality that need to be explored

Is there a sex difference in mortality rates for deaths occurring in paediatric intensive care units? Systematic literature review protocol

Introduction In the general population, female children have been reported to have a survival advantage. For children admitted to paediatric intensive care units (PICUs), mortality has been reported to be lower in males despite the higher admission rates for males into intensive care. This apparent sex reversal in PICU mortality is not well studied. To address this, we propose to conduct a systematic literature review to summarise the available evidence. Our review will study the reported differences in mortality between males and females aged 0-17, who died in a PICU, to examine if there is a difference between the two sexes in PICU mortality, and if so, to describe the magnitude and direction of this difference. Methods and analysis Studies that directly or indirectly addressed the association between sex and mortality in children admitted to intensive care will be eligible for inclusion. Studies that directly address the association will be eligible for data extraction. The search strings were based on terms related to the population (children in intensive care), the exposure (sex) and the outcome (mortality). We used the databases MEDLINE (1946-2020), Embase (1980-2020) and Web of Science (1985-2020) as these cover relevant clinical publications. We will assess the reliability of included studies using the risk of bias in observational studies of exposures tool. We will consider a pooled effect if we have at least three studies with similar periods of follow up and adjustment variables. Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval is not required for this review as it will synthesise data from existing studies. This manuscript is a part of a larger data linkage study, for which Ethical approval was granted. Dissemination will be via peer-reviewed journals and via public and patient groups. PROSPERO registration number CRD42020203009

Protocol Risk factors for disruptive behaviours: protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis of quasi-experimental evidence

Introduction: Disruptive behaviour disorders, including oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder, are a common set of diagnoses in childhood and adolescence, with global estimates of 5.7%, 3.6% and 2.1% for any disruptive disorder, oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder, respectively. There are high economic and social costs associated with disruptive behaviours and the prevalence of these disorders has increased in recent years. As such, disruptive behaviours represent an escalating major public health concern and it is important to understand what factors may influence the risk of these behaviours. Such research would inform interventions that aim to prevent the development of disruptive behaviours. The current review will identify the most stringent evidence of putative risk factors for disruptive behaviour from quasi-experimental studies, which enable stronger causal inference. Methods and analysis: The review will be carried out according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. An electronic search of references published between 1 January 1980 and 1 March 2020 will be conducted using Medline, Embase, PsycINFO and Web of Science. Initial abstract and title screening, full-text screening and data extraction will be completed independently by two reviewers using Evidence for Policy and Practice Information (EPPI)-Reviewer 4 software. Quasi-experimental studies in the English language examining the association between any putative risk factor and a clearly defined measure of disruptive behaviour (eg, a validated questionnaire measure) will be included. We will conduct meta-analyses if we can pool a minimum of three similar studies with the same or similar exposures and outcomes. Ethics and dissemination: The proposed review does not require ethical approval. The results will help to identify risk factors for which there is strong evidence of causal effects on disruptive behaviours and also highlight potential risk factors that require further research. The findings will be disseminated via publication in a peer-reviewed scientific journal and through presentations at international meetings and conferences

Issues in the reporting of epidemiological studies: a survey of recent practice.

OBJECTIVES: To review current practice in the analysis and reporting of epidemiological research and to identify limitations. DESIGN: Examination of articles published in January 2001 that investigated associations between risk factors/exposure variables and disease events/measures in individuals. SETTING: Eligible English language journals including all major epidemiological journals, all major general medical journals, and the two leading journals in cardiovascular disease and cancer. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Each article was evaluated with a standard proforma. RESULTS: We found 73 articles in observational epidemiology; most were either cohort or case-control studies. Most studies looked at cancer and cardiovascular disease, even after we excluded specialty journals. Quantitative exposure variables predominated, which were mostly analysed as ordered categories but with little consistency or explanation regarding choice of categories. Sample selection, participant refusal, and data quality received insufficient attention in many articles. Statistical analyses commonly used odds ratios (38 articles) and hazard/rate ratios (23), with some inconsistent use of terminology. Confidence intervals were reported in most studies (68), though use of P values was less common (38). Few articles explained their choice of confounding variables; many performed subgroup analyses claiming an effect modifier, though interaction tests were rare. Several investigated multiple associations between exposure and outcome, increasing the likelihood of false positive claims. There was evidence of publication bias. CONCLUSIONS: This survey raises concerns regarding inadequacies in the analysis and reporting of epidemiological publications in mainstream journals

Using linked administrative data to aid the handling of non-response and restore sample representativeness in cohort studies: the 1958 national child development study and hospital episode statistics data

BACKGROUND: There is growing interest in whether linked administrative data have the potential to aid analyses subject to missing data in cohort studies. METHODS: Using linked 1958 National Child Development Study (NCDS; British cohort born in 1958, n = 18,558) and Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data, we applied a LASSO variable selection approach to identify HES variables which are predictive of non-response at the age 55 sweep of NCDS. We then included these variables as auxiliary variables in multiple imputation (MI) analyses to explore the extent to which they helped restore sample representativeness of the respondents together with the imputed non-respondents in terms of early life variables (father's social class at birth, cognitive ability at age 7) and relative to external population benchmarks (educational qualifications and marital status at age 55). RESULTS: We identified 10 HES variables that were predictive of non-response at age 55 in NCDS. For example, cohort members who had been treated for adult mental illness had more than 70% greater odds of bring non-respondents (odds ratio 1.73; 95% confidence interval 1.17, 2.51). Inclusion of these HES variables in MI analyses only helped to restore sample representativeness to a limited extent. Furthermore, there was essentially no additional gain in sample representativeness relative to analyses using only previously identified survey predictors of non-response (i.e. NCDS rather than HES variables). CONCLUSIONS: Inclusion of HES variables only aided missing data handling in NCDS to a limited extent. However, these findings may not generalise to other analyses, cohorts or linked administrative datasets. This work provides a demonstration of the use of linked administrative data for the handling of missing cohort data which we hope will act as template for others

An overview of synthetic administrative data for research

Use of administrative data for research and for planning services has increased over recent decades due to the value of the large, rich information available. However, concerns about the release of sensitive or personal data and the associated disclosure risk can lead to lengthy approval processes and restricted data access. This can delay or prevent the production of timely evidence. A promising solution to facilitate more efficient data access is to create synthetic versions of the original datasets which are less likely to hold confidential information and can minimise disclosure risk. Such data may be used as an interim solution, allowing researchers to develop their analysis plans on non-disclosive data, whilst waiting for access to the real data. We aim to provide an overview of the background and uses of synthetic data and describe common methods used to generate synthetic data in the context of UK administrative research. We propose a simplified terminology for categories of synthetic data (univariate, multivariate, and complex modality synthetic data) as well as a more comprehensive description of the terminology used in the existing literature and illustrate challenges and future directions for research

Is there a sex difference in mortality rates for deaths occurring in paediatric intensive care units? Systematic literature review protocol

Introduction In the general population, female children have been reported to have a survival advantage. For children admitted to paediatric intensive care units (PICUs), mortality has been reported to be lower in males despite the higher admission rates for males into intensive care. This apparent sex reversal in PICU mortality is not well studied. To address this, we propose to conduct a systematic literature review to summarise the available evidence. Our review will study the reported differences in mortality between males and females aged 0–17, who died in a PICU, to examine if there is a difference between the two sexes in PICU mortality, and if so, to describe the magnitude and direction of this difference. Methods and analysis Studies that directly or indirectly addressed the association between sex and mortality in children admitted to intensive care will be eligible for inclusion. Studies that directly address the association will be eligible for data extraction. The search strings were based on terms related to the population (children in intensive care), the exposure (sex) and the outcome (mortality). We used the databases MEDLINE (1946–2020), Embase (1980–2020) and Web of Science (1985–2020) as these cover relevant clinical publications. We will assess the reliability of included studies using the risk of bias in observational studies of exposures tool. We will consider a pooled effect if we have at least three studies with similar periods of follow up and adjustment variables. Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval is not required for this review as it will synthesise data from existing studies. This manuscript is a part of a larger data linkage study, for which Ethical approval was granted. Dissemination will be via peer-reviewed journals and via public and patient groups