Policy & Regulation Database and Healthcare Utilisation Catalogue

Two novel analytical tools for use in life-course modelling to help researchers to estimate the causal effects of healthcare policies, laws and regulations (exogenous variations*) and their impacts on the utilisation of health services.

Policy & Regulation Database: A database recording the major policies, laws and regulations in the LongITools data set countries (UK, France, Finland, Netherlands, and Norway) which can affect the external exposome (e.g., pension rules, state benefits, healthcare system reforms).  The database is searchable and supported by a user information document (a readme file). It contains more than 1,100 records dating from 1900 to 2020

The data is held within an Excel spreadsheet and is currently accessible to LongITools researchers via a restricted platform.

The data was gathered at one point in time (2021) but has the potential to be updated.

Healthcare Utilisation Catalogue: A harmonised inventory of healthcare utilisation data variables in the LongITools cohort countries. The variables include hospitalisations, health professional visits (e.g. GP, dentist, nurse, specialists), and medication use.

The variables will be accessible using the LongITools Metadata Catalogue. A readme file will be developed to support its use. The actual healthcare utilisation data within the data sets will be accessible to researchers via DataSHIELD** which ensures security and legal compliance when using the data.

The inventory was developed at one point in time (2021).

Timescale for completion: Completed

* Variations that are outside of the influence of the agents.
** DataSHIELD was developed as part of the EU FP7-funded BioSHARE project and is used in the LifeCycle and EUCAN-Connect projects amongst others.