Linkage of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) to Avon & Somerset Police regional police records.

This data note describes a new resource for crime-related research: the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) linked to regional police records. The police data were provided by Avon & Somerset Police (A&SP), whose area of responsibility contains the ALSPAC recruitment area. In total, ALSPAC had permission to link to crime records for 12,662 of the 'study children' (now adults, who were born in the early 1990s).

The potential for linking cohort participants to official criminal records: a pilot study using the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC).

: Linking longitudinal cohort resources with police-recorded records of criminal activity has the potential to inform public health style approaches to policing, and may reduce potential sources of bias from self-reported criminal data collected by cohort studies. A pilot linkage of police records to the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) allows us to consider the acceptability of this linkage, its utility as a data resource, differences in self-reported crime according to consent status for data linkage, and the appropriate governance mechanism to support such a linkage. : We carried out a pilot study linking data from the ALSPAC birth cohort to Ministry of Justice (MoJ) records on criminal cautions and convictions.

Psychosocial factors and cancer incidence (PSY-CA): Protocol for individual participant data meta-analyses.

Objectives: Psychosocial factors have been hypothesized to increase the risk of cancer. This study aims (1) to test whether psychosocial factors (depression, anxiety, recent loss events, subjective social support, relationship status, general distress, and neuroticism) are associated with the incidence of any cancer (any, breast, lung, prostate, colorectal, smoking-related, and alcohol-related); (2) to test the interaction between psychosocial factors and factors related to cancer risk (smoking, alcohol use, weight, physical activity, sedentary behavior, sleep, age, sex, education, hormone replacement therapy, and menopausal status) with regard to the incidence of cancer; and (3) to test the mediating role of health behaviors (smoking, alcohol use, weight, physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep) in the relationship between psychosocial factors and the incidence of cancer.

Methods: The psychosocial factors and cancer incidence (PSY-CA) consortium was established involving experts in the field of (psycho-)oncology, methodology, and epidemiology.

Early life adversity, contact with children's social care services and educational outcomes at age 16 years: UK birth cohort study with linkage to national administrative records.

Objectives: To use record linkage of birth cohort and administrative data to study educational outcomes of children who are looked-after (in public care) and in need (social services involvement), and examine the role of early life factors.

Setting, Design: Prospective observational study of children from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), which recruited pregnant women in and around Bristol, UK in the early 1990s. ALSPAC was linked to the annual Children Looked-After (CLA) Data Return and Children In Need (CIN) Census.

Sex differences in child and adolescent physical morbidity: cohort study.

Background: Evidence on sex differences in physical morbidity in childhood and adolescence is based largely on studies employing single/few physical morbidity measures and different informants. We describe sex differences in a wide range of parent/carer-reported physical morbidity measures between ages 4 and 13 years to determine evidence for a generalised pattern of an emerging/increasing female 'excess'.

Methods: Parents/carers (approximately 90% mothers) of the population-based UK ALSPAC cohort provided data on general health, physical conditions/symptoms and infections in their child approximately annually between ages 4 and 13.

Adult psychosocial outcomes of men and women who were looked-after or adopted as children: prospective observational study.

Objective: To investigate whether men and women who were looked-after (in public care) or adopted as children are at increased risk of adverse psychological and social outcomes in adulthood.

Design, Setting: Prospective observational study using the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, which recruited pregnant women and their male partners in and around Bristol, UK in the early 1990s.

Participants: 8775 women and 3654 men who completed questionnaires at recruitment (mean age: women 29; men 32) and 5 years later.

Changes in marital quality over 6 years and its association with cardiovascular disease risk factors in men: findings from the ALSPAC prospective cohort study.

Background: Marital relationship quality has been suggested to have independent effects on cardiovascular health outcomes. This study investigates the association between changes in marital relationship quality and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in men.

Methods: We used data from The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, a prospective birth cohort study (Bristol, UK).

Parental alcohol use and risk of behavioral and emotional problems in offspring.

Objective: The majority of studies that have examined parental alcohol use and offspring outcomes have either focused on exposure in the antenatal period or from clinical populations. This study sought to examine proximal and distal associations between parental alcohol use and offspring conduct problems and depressive symptoms in a population birth cohort.

Methods: We used prospective data from a large UK based population cohort (ALSPAC) to investigate the association between parental alcohol use, measured in units, (assessed at ages 4 and 12 years) with childhood conduct trajectories, (assessed on six occasions from 4 to 13.

The impact of cycle proficiency training on cycle-related behaviours and accidents in adolescence: findings from ALSPAC, a UK longitudinal cohort.

Background: Cycle accidents are a common cause of physical injury in children and adolescents. Education is one strategy to reduce cycle-related injuries. In the UK, some children undertake National Cycle Proficiency Scheme [NCPS] training (now known as Bikeability) in their final years of primary school.

An evaluation of the impact of 'Lifeskills' training on road safety, substance use and hospital attendance in adolescence.

Purpose: To evaluate if attendance at Lifeskills, a safety education centre for children in Year 6 (10-11 years), is associated with engagement in safer behaviours, and with fewer accidents and injuries, in adolescence.

Methods: The sample are participants in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children who attended school in the Lifeskills catchment area in Year 6; 60% attended Lifeskills. At 14-15 years, participants (n approximately 3000, varies by outcome) self-reported road safety behaviours and accidents, and perceived health effects and use of alcohol, cannabis, and tobacco.

Child Allergic Symptoms and Well-Being at School: Findings from ALSPAC, a UK Cohort Study.

Background: Eczema and asthma are common conditions in childhood that can influence children's mental health. Despite this, little is known about how these conditions affect the well-being of children in school. This study examines whether symptoms of eczema or asthma are associated with poorer social and mental well-being in school as reported by children and their teachers at age 8 years.

The Determinants of young Adult Social well-being and Health (DASH) study: diversity, psychosocial determinants and health.

Purpose: The Determinants of young Adult Social well-being and Health longitudinal study draws on life-course models to understand ethnic differences in health. A key hypothesis relates to the role of psychosocial factors in nurturing the health and well-being of ethnic minorities growing up in the UK. We report the effects of culturally patterned exposures in childhood.

Child allergic symptoms and mental well-being: the role of maternal anxiety and depression.

Objective: To determine whether maternal mental health mediates the relationship between eczema or asthma symptoms and mental well-being in children.

Study Design: Analysis of 7250 children from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Child mental well-being at 8 years was measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire.

Antibiotic exposure in the first two years of life and development of asthma and other allergic diseases by 7.5 yr: a dose-dependent relationship.

Background: Antibiotic use in infancy disrupts gut microflora during a critical period for immune system development. It is hypothesized that this could predispose to the development of allergic diseases. We investigated the associations of antibiotic use in the first 2 yr of life with the development of asthma, eczema or hay fever by age 7.

Escalating coverage of obesity in UK newspapers: the evolution and framing of the "obesity epidemic" from 1996 to 2010.

Obesity is one of the fastest growing and most serious public health challenges facing the world in the 21st century. Correspondingly, over the past decade there has been increased interest in how the obesity epidemic has been framed by the media. This study offers the first large-scale examination of the evolution and framing of the obesity epidemic in UK newspapers, identifying shifts in news coverage about the causal drivers of and potential solutions to the obesity epidemic.

Emergence of ethnic differences in blood pressure in adolescence: the determinants of adolescent social well-being and health study.

The cause of ethnic differences in cardiovascular disease remains a scientific challenge. Blood pressure tracks from late childhood to adulthood. We examined ethnic differences in changes in blood pressure between early and late adolescence in the United Kingdom.

Trends in cancer mortality among migrants in England and Wales, 1979-2003.

Aim: To examine trends in cancer mortality for migrants living in England and Wales.

Method: The Office for National Statistics provided anonymised death records for 1979-1983, 1989-1993 and 1999-2003, and tabulated population data from the 1981, 1991 and 2001 censuses for England and Wales. Age-adjusted rates and rate ratios for 16 cancer sites were derived by country of birth and time period.

All cause and cardiovascular mortality in African migrants living in Portugal: evidence of large social inequalities.

Aim: To examine cardiovascular mortality of African migrants in Portugal in relation to socio-economic status.

Method: Data from death registrations, 1998-2002, and the 2001 Census were used to derive standardized death rates by country of birth and occupational class/marital status.

Results: Compared with native Portuguese, African migrants had higher mortality for all causes, circulatory disease, coronary heart disease and stroke.

Ethnic differences in overweight and obesity in early adolescence in the MRC DASH study: the role of adolescent and parental lifestyle.

Background: Ethnicity is a consistent correlate of excess weight in youth. We examine the influence of lifestyles on ethnic differences in excess weight in early adolescence in the UK.

Method: Data were collected from 6599 pupils, aged 11-13 years in 51 schools, on dietary practices and physical activity, parental smoking and overweight, and on overweight and obesity (using International Obesity Task Force criteria).