Lives of Irish Adolescents Who Were Born With a Cleft (LIA-Cleft).

Objective: The objective was to describe the lives of adolescents, who were born with cleft lip and palate (CL/P), in comparison to the general population as recorded in Growing up in Ireland (GUI), the national longitudinal study of children and youth.

Design: This was a cross-sectional study. The study was performed in a cleft center at a university teaching hospital.

Challenges to accessing behaviour support services for people with intellectual disability before and after the NDIS.

Background: This study investigated the extent to which behaviour support services are accessible under Australia's National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

Method: We conducted semi-structured interviews with families who support a member with an intellectual disability and challenging behaviour. We analysed this data with a supply and demand access framework initially designed for health care and described the lived experiences of participants and their families accessing behaviour supports.

An investigation of inequalities in exposure to PM air pollution across small areas in Ireland.

The link between exposure to air pollution and adverse effects on human health is well documented. Yet, in a European context, research on the spatial distribution of air pollution and the characteristics of areas is relatively scarce, and there is a need for research using different spatial scales, a wider variety of socioeconomic indicators (such as ethnicity) and new methodologies to assess these relationships. This study uses comprehensive data on a wide range of demographic and socioeconomic indicators, matched to data on PM concentrations for small areas in Ireland, to assess the relationship between social vulnerability and PM air pollution.

Long-term exposure to PM air pollution and mental health: a retrospective cohort study in Ireland.

Background: Mental illness is the leading cause of years lived with disability, and the global disease burden of mental ill-health has increased substantially in the last number of decades. There is now increasing evidence that environmental conditions, and in particular poor air quality, may be associated with mental health and wellbeing.

Methods: This cross-sectional analysis uses data on mental health and wellbeing from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), a nationally representative survey of the population aged 50+ in Ireland.

Formal health care costs among older people in Ireland: methods and estimates using The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA).

Reliable data on health care costs in Ireland are essential to support planning and evaluation of services. New unit costs and high-quality utilisation data offer the opportunity to estimate individual-level costs for research and policy. Our main dataset was The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA).

The effect of "smoky" coal bans on chronic lung disease among older people in Ireland.

Globally, coal is still widely used for heating. However, there are concerns about its effect on ambient air quality and health. We estimated the effect of bans prohibiting the sale and use of so-called "smoky coal" on the prevalence of chronic lung disease in older people.

Overprescribing among older people near end of life in Ireland: Evidence of prevalence and determinants from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA).

International evidence shows that people approaching end of life (EOL) have high prevalence of polypharmacy, including overprescribing. Overprescribing may have adverse side effects for mental and physical health and represents wasteful spending. Little is known about prescribing near EOL in Ireland.

Perinatal mortality in Ireland: inequalities by socio-economic group and country of birth.

Background: While perinatal mortality rates have decreased in Ireland in recent years, it is not known if this reduction was shared equally among all groups. The aim of this study is to examine inequalities in perinatal mortality by country of birth and socio-economic group in Ireland between 2004 and 2019.

Methods: Data for the analysis was obtained from the National Perinatal Reporting System dataset, which includes all births (including stillbirths) in Ireland.

Predicting mortality in The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA): development of a four-year index and comparison with international measures.

Objectives: We aimed to replicate existing international (US and UK) mortality indices using Irish data. We developed and validated a four-year mortality index for adults aged 50 + in Ireland and compared performance with these international indices. We then extended this model by including additional predictors (self-report and healthcare utilization) and compared its performance to our replication model.

Public health insurance and mortality in the older population: Evidence from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing.

Most developed countries provide publicly-financed insurance for many health services for their populations although there is considerable variation across countries in the types of services covered, eligible population groups and whether co-payments are levied. The Irish healthcare system, with a complex mix of public and private financing of healthcare services, offers a useful case study for an examination of the impact of type of health insurance cover on population health. In this paper, we investigate the extent to which type of health insurance cover is associated with all-cause, cause-specific, and amenable mortality using data on a representative survey of the population aged 50+ from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) matched to administrative data on death registrations.

Utilisation of healthcare by immigrant adults relative to the host population: Evidence from Ireland.

Objective: While there is a broad consensus that barriers to access in the utilisation of healthcare exist for immigrants in the US, European evidence exploring this issue paints a mixed picture, with studies from a variety of European jurisdictions presenting different conclusions. In this context, Ireland, a European country with substantial private involvement in healthcare delivery, and, a largely young immigrant population, provides an opportunity to investigate the healthcare utilisation of immigrants compared to natives in a European country with mixed private-public healthcare provision.

Design: The healthcare utilisation patterns of immigrants (defined as residents with a foreign country of birth) and native-born participants were analysed from a nationally representative health survey of 6,326 adults, carried out in Ireland in 2016.

Road traffic noise and cognitive function in older adults: a cross-sectional investigation of The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing.

Background: The World Health Organization published updated Environmental Noise Guidelines in 2018. Included are recommended limit values for environmental noise exposure based on systematic reviews for a range of health outcomes, including cognitive impairment. There is emerging evidence in the literature that chronic exposure to road traffic noise may affect cognitive function in older adults, but this relationship is not well established.

Area-level deprivation and geographic factors influencing utilisation of General Practitioner services.

Inequities in access to General Practitioner (GP) services are a key policy concern given the role of GPs as gatekeepers to secondary care services. Geographic or area-level factors, including local deprivation and supply of healthcare providers, are important elements of access. In considering how area-level deprivation relates to GP utilisation, two potentially opposing factors may be important.

Mortality risk associated with combinations of loneliness and social isolation. Findings from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA).

Background: Social distancing and similar measures in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic have greatly increased loneliness and social isolation among older adults. Understanding the association between loneliness and mortality is therefore critically important. We examined whether combinations of loneliness and social isolation, using a metric named social asymmetry, was associated with increased mortality risk.

Linking death registration and survey data: Procedures and cohort profile for The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA).

Research on mortality at the population level has been severely restricted by an absence of linked death registration and survey data in Ireland. We describe the steps taken to link death registration information with survey data from a nationally representative prospective study of community-dwelling older adults. We also provide a profile of decedents among this cohort and compare mortality rates to population-level mortality data.

Comparing Underlying and Contributory Cause of Death in Registry Data With End-of-Life Proxy Interviews: Findings From The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA).

Cause of death is an important outcome in end-of-life (EOL) research. However, difficulties in assigning cause of death have been well documented. We compared causes of death in national death registrations with those reported in EOL interviews.

Free GP care and psychological health: Quasi-experimental evidence from Ireland.

There is considerable ambiguity in the literature on the effect of health insurance on health. While the majority of previous analyses have examined physical health outcomes, analyses of the broader dimensions of health such as psychological health and wellbeing have been less frequent. Using data from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) and a difference-in-differences research design, we examine the impact of free general practitioner (GP) care on psychological health among the older population and explore potential mechanisms.

Local NO2 concentrations and asthma among over-50s in Ireland: A microdata analysis.

Background: Links between air pollution and asthma are less well established for older adults than some younger groups. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations are widely used as an indicator of transport-related air pollution, and some literature suggests NO2 may directly affect asthma.

Methods: This study used data on 8162 adults >50 years old in the Republic of Ireland to model associations between estimated annual outdoor concentration of NO2 and the probability of having asthma.

Characterising urban green space density and footpath-accessibility in models of BMI.

Background: While exposure to urban green spaces has been associated with various physical health benefits, the evidence linking these spaces to lower BMI, particularly among older people, is mixed. We ask whether footpath availability, generally unobserved in the existing literature, may mediate exposure to urban green space and help explain this volatility in results. The aim of this study is to add to the literature on the association between urban green space and BMI by considering alternative measures of urban green space that incorporate measures of footpath availability.

The impact of prescription drug co-payments for publicly insured families.

Co-payments for prescription drugs are a common feature of many healthcare systems, although often with exemptions for vulnerable population groups. International evidence demonstrates that cost-sharing for medicines may delay necessary care, increase use of other forms of healthcare and result in poorer health outcomes. Existing studies concentrate on adults and older people, particularly in the US, with relatively less attention afforded to paediatric and European populations.

Personality and preventive healthcare utilisation: Evidence from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing.

There is extensive empirical evidence that personality is associated with many outcomes and behaviours, such as educational outcomes, labour market participation, savings behaviour, health behaviours, physical health status and mortality. Use of preventive healthcare services (e.g.

Did the expansion of free GP care impact demand for Emergency Department attendances? A difference-in-differences analysis.

The removal of co-payments for General Practitioner (GP) services has been shown to increase utilisation of GP care. The introduction of free GP care may also have spillover effects on utilisation of other healthcare such as Emergency Department (ED) services, which often serve as substitutes for primary care, and where co-payments to attend exist for many. In Ireland, out-of-pocket payments are paid by the majority of the population to access GP care, and these costs are amongst the highest in Europe.

An investigation of the effect of accessibility to General Practitioner services on healthcare utilisation among older people.

Equity in access to healthcare services is regarded as an important policy goal in the organisation of modern healthcare systems. Physical accessibility to healthcare services is recognised as a key component of access. Older people are more frequent and intensive users of healthcare, but reduced mobility and poorer access to transport may negatively influence patterns of utilisation.

Coastal blue space and depression in older adults.

This paper tests whether higher exposure to coastal blue space is associated with lower risk of depression using data from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), a nationally representative longitudinal study of people aged fifty and over in Ireland. We contribute to the literature on blue space and health by (i) using scores from the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) to measure depression outcomes (ii) using new measures of coastal blue space visibility (iii) studying the association in an older population (iv) using data from Ireland. Our results indicate that exposure to coastal blue space is associated with beneficial mental health outcomes: TILDA respondents with the highest share of sea view visibility have lower depression (CES-D) scores, while distance from coastline is not statistically significant when views and proximity are both included in the model.

The value of education to health: Evidence from Ireland.

Does education have a causal impact on health? The existing literature presents mixed results. More evidence is required from contexts that have not been explored in the literature, and using clinically-measured health outcomes. Using data from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), and exploiting a policy change in the 1960s that eliminated public secondary school fees, we investigate whether additional years of schooling for those with lower socio-economic status (SES) have a causal effect on the prevalence of cardiovascular disease in later life.