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The Aberdeen Children of the 1950"s (ACONF)

Summary

Abstract

The Aberdeen Children of the 1950s (ACONF) holds health data for Aberdeen Birth Cohorts of people born in Aberdeen in 1921, 1936, and 1950-1956. It helps to understand the changes as we age and how to better our life quality as we get older.

Keywords

Aberdeen Aberdeen Children Children 1950s ACONF Aberdeen Birth Cohorts Ageing Intelligence Learning Disabilities Pregnancy Mental Health Schooling Household Reading Scotland Births Heart disease Geriatric Health

Publisher

  • Name
    Grampian Data Safe Haven (DaSH) - University of Aberdeen
  • Logo

    Not available

  • Description
    Not available
  • Contact point
    Not available

Documentation

Description

The Aberdeen Children of the 1950s (ACONF) is a dataset gathered through a longitudinal study from 12 150 participants born in Aberdeen between 1950 - 1956 that was repeated in 1990s, 2000s and is still ongoing. The most recent part of the study was conducted in 2021 and examined views on Covid-19. The initial goal was to find the cause of learning disabilities among school children however, the existing dataset contents have been expanded over years to aid research in multiple fields such as health-related studies. The data includes invaluable information about the prevalence of heart disease, pregnancy details, intelligence, schooling, housing, and mental health across the generations. Back in the 1950"s, children in Aberdeen primary schools were tested by the University of Aberdeen with the Aberdeen Child Development Survey (ACDS) in maths and reading tests in December 1962. Four decades later, the survey was sent by post to all the now-adult participants with more questions about their personal life, health and living situation to draw correlation between the examined factors. The study yielded 7000 responses and was enriched by consulting the medical records. It has been possible to confirm vital status and place of residence for 98.5% of the 12,150 subjects from which 81% still lived in Scotland and 73% in the Grampian, including Aberdeen. 1431 subjects have been confirmed to be deceased (as at March 2018). Linkages to hospital admissions and other health endpoints captured through the routine Scottish Morbidity Records system resulted in links to 41,159 hospital admission records, 1,258 cancer registrations and 1,084 psychiatric admissions (as at March 2008) and include an intergenerational linkage to 7928 deliveries in Scotland occurring to female members of the study population. A postal questionnaire to all surviving cohort members has also been distributed in 2001, with a response success rate of 63%.

Coverage

Spatial

  • Spatial coverage

    United Kingdom, Scotland, Aberdeen City, United Kingdom, Scotland, Aberdeenshire

  • Geographic levels
    Not available

Temporal

  • Start date
    03/12/1962
  • End date
    Not available
  • Frequency
    Continuous
  • Distribution release date
    Not available

Provenance

  • Purpose
    Study
  • Source
    Not available
  • Collection situation
    Community

Access and governance

  • Conditions of access
    Research use only

Requesting access to this data

This is a secure dataset that can only be accessed by researchers from approved organisations.

Find out how to apply to access this dataset

Usage

  • Conditions of use
    Ethics approval required
  • Resource creator
    University of Aberdeen
  • Is referenced by
    Not available

Access

  • Access rights
  • Access service
    The Grampian Data Safe Haven The Grampian Data Safe Haven (DaSH) is a secure, virtual healthcare data analysis and storage centre established by the University of Aberdeen and NHS Grampian to allow for the secure processing and linking of health data for the Grampian and Scottish population when it is not practicable to obtain consent from individual patients. The DaSH Research Coordinators can provide advice and support in obtaining the required approvals for DaSH projects. A Permissions Pathway guide explaining the approvals process for DaSH projects is also available. In addition, DaSH has some template application forms with pre-populated information about DaSH that can be used by researchers during the permission application process as appropriate. DaSH technology ensures unconsented healthcare, social data and other types of sensitive data are accessible for research and clinical purposes whilst protecting individuals’ privacy. Our ethos is built on working with clinicians, researchers and industry partners to improve health and social care by providing a safe and secure environment and enabling cutting-edge research. The Grampian Data Safe Haven offers bespoke data storage, processing and linkage services based on the individual needs of your research project. The DaSH team works with researchers to provide detailed project planning and data management support whilst ensuring adherence to the highest standards of security and governance and protecting patient confidentiality. Each project is supported by a Research Coordinator and Data Analyst to ensure projects adhere to permissions and outputs meet the project specification and comply with information security regulations. If you require non-DaSH-held datasets, we can assist with obtaining the relevant approvals, as well as coordinating the request with the data custodians and linkage between datasets.
  • Jurisdiction
    GB-SCT
  • Data controller
    The members of the steering group for the "Children of the 1950s" cohort study involve collaboration between representatives of Dugald Baird Centre, University of Aberdeen and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, the MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow, and the Department of Social Medicine, University of Bristol. The study administrator, Heather Clark, oversees applications for access to the ACONF data. Please contact Heather at h.clark@abdn.ac.uk or +44 (0)1224 437288 if you would like more information on the study variables, or if you are interested in submitting an application to the steering committee.
  • Data processor
    Grampian Data Safe Haven (DaSH) Given steering committee approval, work with ACONF data requires a rigorous permission process and vetting of data security. Work on ACONF data is carried out in the Grampian Data Safe Haven (DaSH). DaSH provides advice on the linkage process as well as a safe facility for conducting research with linked data.

Format and standards

  • Language
    English
  • Format
    Text

Enrichment and linkage

  • Related datasets
    • Not available
  • Linkage opportunity
    Not available
  • Tools
    • Not available

Synthetic data

Synthetic data is not yet available for this dataset. 

Data Dictionary

C_CDNO

Census District Number

C_CSUBNO

Census sub-district number

C_EDNO

Enumeration District

C_WARDNO

Ward number

C_WARDNM

Ward name

C_NPERS

Number of persons

C_NMALE

Number of males per enumeration district

C_NFEMAL

Number of females per enumeration district

C_N0TO2

Number of persons aged 0-2 yrs oer enumeration district

C_N3TO64

Number of persons aged 3 - 64 yrs per enumeration district

Variable description

Data type
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