Education and Child Health Insights from Linked Data - England
The Education and Child Health Insights from Linked Data (ECHILD) database includes linked records for around 20 million children and young people, which are being used to better understand how education affects children’s health and how health affects children’s education.
This dataset has been created in a partnership between University College London, the Department for Education, NHS England, and the Office for National Statistics.
Component datasets and linkage
The ECHILD database contains the National Pupil Database (including data on pupil and school characteristics, educational outcomes, and social care) linked to healthcare data. This includes Hospital Episode Statistics (admitted patient care, A&E, and outpatient care), birth notifications, maternity services data, mental health data and community services data. The database also contains linked health, education and social care data on the mothers of ECHILD cohort members through a mother-baby link. This enables researchers to investigate the effects of maternal exposures on children’s outcomes.
| Timeframe | 1 September 1984 - 31 August 2022 |
|---|---|
| Update Frequency | Under review |
| Population | Children and young people born in the timeframe specified |
| Coverage | England only |
| Size | ~20 million records |
Introduction to the ECHILD database
What is ECHILD?
Examples of research questions
The ECHILD database facilitates research to improve policymaking for children’s health, education and wellbeing across a range of health and social science disciplines. For example, ECHILD could help to answer questions such as:
- How can we improve health and education for children with chronic physical or mental health conditions in England?
- How can we better understand the health-related drivers of educational outcomes in England?
- How can we improve the quality and equity of health and education provision in England?
This list is illustrative only and intended to demonstrate the research potential of the dataset. See the priority research questions for ECHILD, and browse the areas of research interest database (external website), to find policy- and practice-relevant topics.
Core documentation
User guide
The ECHILD user guide introduces researchers to the ECHILD database by providing a broad overview of its coverage, content and creation.
Other supporting resources
| Resource | Description |
| ECHILD data resources | A webpage with all the key resources to support researchers working with the ECHILD dataset. |
| A practical introduction to ECHILD (training course on demand) | A course offering a practical introduction to ECHILD - available on demand. |
| Data Resource Profile | Mc Grath-Lone, L. et al. (2021) Data Resource Profile: The Education and Child Health Insights from Linked Data (ECHILD) Database, International Journal of Epidemiology, Volume 51, Issue 1, February 2022, Pages 17–17f, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyab149 |
| Linking education and hospital data in England: Linkage process and quality | Libuy, N., Harron, K., Gilbert, R., Caulton, R., Cameron, E., Blackburn, R., (2021) Linking education and hospital data in England: linkage process and quality. International Journal of Population Data Science, Volume 6, No 1, 16 September 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.23889/ijpds.v6i1.1671 |
| Data Resource: National Pupil Database | Matthew Alexander Jay, Louise Mc Grath-Lone, Ruth Gilbert. Data Resource: the National Pupil Database (NPD). International Journal of Population Data Science. Published online: Mar 20, 2019. DOI: https://doi.org/10.23889/ijpds.v4i1.1101 |
| Data Resource: Children Looked After Return | Mc Grath-Lone, L. et al., Data Resource Profile: Children Looked After Return (CLA), International Journal of Epidemiology, Volume 45, Issue 3, June 2016, Pages 716–717f, https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyw117 |
| Cohort profile: Children in Need Census | Emmott, E.H., Jay, M.A., Woodman, J., Cohort profile: Children in Need Census (CIN) records of children referred for social care support in England. BMJ Open 2019;9:e023771. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-023771 |
| ECHILD How To Guides | This is a series of step-by-step guides designed to help researchers effectively extract, manage, and process data within ECHILD. They also contain full example scripts. |
| ECHILD Phenotype Code List Repository | This provides phenotype code lists, documentation and example code for implementation in Stata and R. |
| Upcoming events | The ECHILD website is regularly updated with new events and training opportunities. |
| Code to clean children’s social care datasets included in the National Pupil Database | This code cleans the Children in Need census and the Children Looked After return. All shared code can be viewed in the ONS Secure Research Service (SRS) code repository. The repository can be accessed in the SRS via a short cut. You can view any folder and copy this to your own workspace for use or interrogation. |
Research highlights
Journal publications:
- Number and timing of primary cleft lip palate repair surgeries in England: whole nation study of electronic health records before and during the COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19-related school closures and patterns of hospital admissions with stress-related presentations in secondary school-aged adolescents: weekly time series
- Hospital admissions for stress-related presentations among school-aged adolescents during term time versus holidays in England: weekly time series and retrospective cross-sectional analysis
- Gestational age at birth, chronic conditions and school outcomes: a population-based data linkage study of children born in England
- Changes in adolescents’ planned hospital care during the COVID-19 pandemic: analysis of linked administrative data
- What makes administrative data research-ready? A systematic review and thematic analysis of published literature
- Reductions in hospital care among clinically vulnerable children aged 0-4 years during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Impact case studies:
- ECHILD, children’s social care and the impact of code sharing
- Gestational age at birth, chronic conditions, and school outcomes of children born in England
Accessing the data
Accredited researchers with an approved project can access the ECHILD dataset via the ONS Secure Research Service.
1. Apply to become an accredited researcher under the Digital Economy Act 2017
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Apply for researcher accreditation through the People & Projects Service: How to access: Apply for researcher accreditation.
2. Apply for an accredited research project
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View the ECHILD dataset on the ECHILD Data Catalogue.
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Contact the ECHILD team at UCL to discuss feasibility: ich.echild@ucl.ac.uk
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Complete a project application form and a data request form, and submit to the ECHILD team at UCL
- Once the ECHILD team has approved the project, submit an application to the Project Accreditation Service for SRS: Apply for an accredited research project – ONS.
3. Access the data securely
Your institution will need to sign a non-negotiable Data Access Agreement (the sublicense) with UCL.
The options available to access this dataset are:
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Safe Rooms – based in ONS offices in Titchfield and Newport, open Monday-Friday, 9.00-16.00
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SafePod Network– a small, self-contained secure room with a single workstation
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Assured Organisational Connectivity – the ability to access the ONS Secure Research Service from your office or home. Check what arrangements your institution already has or can put in place.
ADR UK Research Fellowships
ADR UK is funding policy-relevant research using ADR England flagship datasets, including ECHILD. Research fellows address priority research questions, generate insights and demonstrate the value of ADR England data. These datasets are held securely within the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Secure Research Service or other trusted research environments.
Publications
- The ECHILD Database: Key messages from stakeholders (August 2021)
- Data Insight: Special educational needs provision in primary schools for children with major congenital anomalies
- Gestational age at birth, chronic conditions, and school outcomes: Young person's version of a research paper
- Changes over time to Pupil Matching Reference Numbers in the National Pupil Database
- Recording: ADR UK Researcher Symposium - Exploring experiences of education through administrative data research
Find out more
Find out more on the ECHILD website. You can contact the programme team at ich.echild@ucl.ac.uk.
