Risk factors for fatality in jump racing Thoroughbreds in Great Britain (2010-2023).

Background: The British horseracing industry is committed to reducing equine fatalities in jump racing. Race-related fatalities are a major welfare concern and threaten the sport's social licence to operate.

Objectives: To describe the risk of, and determine risk factors for, fatality in British jump racing.

Individual and social heterosis act independently in honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies.

Heterosis occurs in individuals when genetic diversity, e.g., heterozygosity, increases fitness.

Children with Hirschsprung's disease have high morbidity in the first 5 years of life.

Background: Hirschsprung's disease is a rare congenital anomaly of the colon with absence of the ganglionic nerve cells. The treatment of the anomaly is surgical.

Methods: This population-based data-linkage cohort study was part of the EUROlinkCAT project and investigated mortality and morbidity for the first 5 years of life for European children diagnosed with Hirschsprung's disease.

The Association of Prenatal Diagnoses with Mortality and Long-Term Morbidity in Children with Specific Isolated Congenital Anomalies: A European Register-Based Cohort Study.

Objectives: To compare 5-year survival rate and morbidity in children with spina bifida, transposition of great arteries (TGA), congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) or gastroschisis diagnosed prenatally with those diagnosed postnatally.

Methods: Population-based registers' data were linked to hospital and mortality databases.

Results: Children whose anomaly was diagnosed prenatally (n = 1088) had a lower mean gestational age than those diagnosed postnatally (n = 1698) ranging from 8 days for CDH to 4 days for TGA.

Hospital care in the first 10 years of life of children with congenital anomalies in six European countries: data from the EUROlinkCAT cohort linkage study.

Objective: To quantify the hospital care for children born with a major congenital anomaly up to 10 years of age compared with children without a congenital anomaly.

Design, Setting And Patients: 79 591 children with congenital anomalies and 2 021 772 children without congenital anomalies born 1995-2014 in six European countries in seven regions covered by congenital anomaly registries were linked to inpatient electronic health records up to their 10th birthday.

Main Outcome Measures: Number of days in hospital and number of surgeries.

Higher risk of cerebral palsy, seizures/epilepsy, visual- and hearing impairments, cancer, injury and child abuse in children with congenital anomalies: Data from the EUROlinkCAT study.

Aim: The aim is to examine the risk of cerebral palsy, seizures/epilepsy, visual- and hearing impairments, cancer, injury/poisoning and child abuse in children with and without a congenital anomaly up to age 5 and 10 years.

Methods: This is a population-based data linkage cohort study linking information from the European Surveillance of Congenital Anomalies network (EUROCAT) and birth registries to hospital discharge databases. We included 91 504 live born children with major congenital anomalies born from 1995 to 2014 from nine EUROCAT registries in five countries and 1 960 727 live born children without congenital anomalies (reference children).

Timing of Cardiac Surgical Interventions and Postoperative Mortality in Children With Severe Congenital Heart Defects Across Europe: Data From the EUROlinkCAT Study.

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the timing of the first cardiac surgery, the number of cardiac surgeries performed, and 30-day postoperative mortality rate for children with severe congenital heart defects (sCHDs) in their first 5 years of life.

Methods And Results: This was a population-based data linkage cohort study linking information from 9 European congenital anomaly registries to vital statistics and hospital databases. Data were extracted for 5693 children with sCHDs born from 1995 to 2004.

Antiasthmatic prescriptions in children with and without congenital anomalies: a population-based study.

Objectives: To explore the risk of being prescribed/dispensed medications for respiratory symptoms and breathing difficulties in children with and without congenital anomalies.

Design: A EUROlinkCAT population-based data linkage cohort study. Data on children with and without congenital anomalies were linked to prescription databases to identify children who did/did not receive antiasthmatic prescriptions.

Creating a population-based cohort of children born with and without congenital anomalies using birth data matched to hospital discharge databases in 11 European regions: Assessment of linkage success and data quality.

Linking routinely collected healthcare administrative data is a valuable method for conducting research on morbidity outcomes, but linkage quality and accuracy needs to be assessed for bias as the data were not collected for research. The aim of this study was to describe the rates of linking data on children with and without congenital anomalies to regional or national hospital discharge databases and to evaluate the quality of the matched data. Eleven population-based EUROCAT registries participated in a EUROlinkCAT study linking data on children with a congenital anomaly and children without congenital anomalies (reference children) born between 1995 and 2014 to administrative databases including hospital discharge records.

Using administrative data to evaluate national policy impacts on child and maternal health: a research framework from the Maternal and Child Health Network (MatCHNet).

Reducing health inequalities by addressing the social circumstances in which children are conceived and raised is a societal priority. Early interventions are key to improving outcomes in childhood and long-term into adulthood. Across the UK nations, there is strong political commitment to invest in the early years.

Causes of death in children with congenital anomalies up to age 10 in eight European countries.

Background: Congenital anomalies (CAs) increase the risk of death during infancy and childhood. This study aimed to evaluate the accuracy of using death certificates to estimate the burden of CAs on mortality for children under 10 years old.

Methods: Children born alive with a major CA between 1 January 1995 and 31 December 2014, from 13 population-based European CA registries were linked to mortality records up to their 10th birthday or 31 December 2015, whichever was earlier.

Identifying opportunities for upstream evaluations relevant to child and maternal health: a UK policy-mapping review.

Objective: Interventions to tackle the social determinants of health can improve outcomes during pregnancy and early childhood, leading to better health across the life course. Variation in content, timing and implementation of policies across the 4 UK nations allows for evaluation. We conducted a policy-mapping review (1981-2021) to identify relevant UK early years policies across the social determinants of health framework, and determine suitable candidates for evaluation using administrative data.

Hospital Length of Stay and Surgery among European Children with Rare Structural Congenital Anomalies-A Population-Based Data Linkage Study.

Little is known about morbidity for children with rare structural congenital anomalies. This European, population-based data-linkage cohort study analysed data on hospitalisations and surgical procedures for 5948 children born 1995-2014 with 18 rare structural congenital anomalies from nine EUROCAT registries in five countries. In the first year of life, the median length of stay (LOS) ranged from 3.

Prescriptions for insulin and insulin analogues in children with and without major congenital anomalies: a data linkage cohort study across six European regions.

Unlabelled: Are children with major congenital anomalies more likely to develop diabetes requiring insulin therapy, as indicated by prescriptions for insulin, than children without congenital anomalies? The aim of this study is to evaluate prescription rates of insulin/insulin analogues in children aged 0-9 years with and without major congenital anomalies. A EUROlinkCAT data linkage cohort study, involving six population-based congenital anomaly registries in five countries. Data on children with major congenital anomalies (60,662) and children without congenital anomalies (1,722,912), the reference group, were linked to prescription records.

European study showed that children with congenital anomalies often underwent multiple surgical procedures at different ages across Europe.

Aim: Children with congenital anomalies often require surgery but data on the burden of surgery for these children are limited.

Methods: A population-based record-linkage study in Finland, Wales and regions of Denmark, England, Italy and Spain. A total of 91 504 children with congenital anomalies born in 1995-2014 were followed to their tenth birthday or the end of 2015.

Accuracy of congenital anomaly coding in live birth children recorded in European health care databases, a EUROlinkCAT study.

Electronic health care databases are increasingly being used to investigate the epidemiology of congenital anomalies (CAs) although there are concerns about their accuracy. The EUROlinkCAT project linked data from eleven EUROCAT registries to electronic hospital databases. The coding of CAs in electronic hospital databases was compared to the (gold standard) codes in the EUROCAT registries.

The quality and the accuracy of codes for terminations of pregnancy for fetal anomalies recorded in hospital databases in three countries in northern Europe.

Background: The number of terminations of pregnancy for fetal anomalies in Europe (TOPFA) has increased over recent decades. Therefore, it is important that TOPFAs, in addition to all other birth outcomes, are included in the surveillance of congenital anomalies and in studies on possible teratogenic risks of pregnancy exposures. The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality and the accuracy of codes identifying TOPFA cases in hospital databases.

Preterm birth and prescriptions for cardiovascular, antiseizure, antibiotics and antiasthmatic medication in children up to 10 years of age: a population-based data linkage cohort study across six European regions.

Objectives: Preterm children are exposed to many medications in neonatal intensive care units, but little is known about the effect of prematurity on medication use throughout infancy and childhood. We examined prescriptions of cardiovascular medication (CVM), antiseizure medication (ASM), antiasthmatic medication and antibiotics issued/dispensed in the first 10 years of life for very and moderately preterm children compared with term.

Design: Population-based data linkage cohort study linking information from birth records to prescription records.

An inventory of European data sources to support pharmacoepidemiologic research on neurodevelopmental outcomes in children following medication exposure in pregnancy: A contribution from the ConcePTION project.

Background: Studies on medication safety in pregnancy are increasingly focusing on child neurodevelopmental outcomes. Establishing neurodevelopmental safety is complex due to the range of neurodevelopmental outcomes and the length of follow-up needed for accurate assessment. The aim of this study was to provide an inventory of European data sources for use in pharmacoepidemiologic studies investigating neurodevelopment following maternal medication exposure.

Gastrostomy and congenital anomalies: a European population-based study.

Objective: To report and compare the proportion of children with and without congenital anomalies undergoing gastrostomy for tube feeding in their first 5 years.

Methods: A European, population-based data-linkage cohort study (EUROlinkCAT). Children up to 5 years of age registered in nine EUROCAT registries (national and regional) in six countries and children without congenital anomalies (reference children) living in the same geographical areas were included.

Sociodemographic variation in prescriptions dispensed in early pregnancy in Northern Ireland 2010-2016.

Aim: To establish the prevalence of prescriptions dispensed in early pregnancy by maternal age and area deprivation, for women who gave birth in Northern Ireland (NI) 2011-2016.

Study Design: Population-based linked cohort study.

Methods: The NI Maternity System (NIMATS) database was used to identify all births to resident mothers in NI between 2011 and 2016.