Archives: Research

Commuting, migration and health – a longitudinal study in Northern Ireland.

Commuting, migration and health – a longitudinal study in Northern Ireland.

There is empirical evidence that those who live far from their place of work make residential moves nearer to it as substitute to long-distance commutes. However, there is little known about this process in NI. People may only move house if their commute exceeds a certain threshold and this may vary between urban and rural areas and by dependent on the general, investigating questions about motives for housing moves, the size of housing/labour markets and their health status. More specifically, the project aims also to consider the mobility experiences of people with (a) limiting long-term illnesses and (b) general health problems but who are still in employment.

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November 15, 2019
An exploratory analysis of the use of antibiotics by demographic and area characteristics – an exemplar study using the Northern Ireland Enhanced Prescribing Database (EPD) – NILS Distinct Linkage Project.

An exploratory analysis of the use of antibiotics by demographic and area characteristics – an exemplar study using the Northern Ireland Enhanced Prescribing Database (EPD) – NILS Distinct Linkage Project.

The EPD is an integrated patient-centred electronic record of all drugs prescribed by General Practitioners in Northern Ireland. Using the EPES database this project will analyse antibiotic prescribing patterns for the 12 months ending May 2010. It will examine variations in use of antibiotics by individual socio-demographic characteristics and area characteristics, to help to inform the management of antibiotics prescribing in Northern Ireland.

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November 15, 2019
Religion, fertility and space.

Religion, fertility and space.

Future demand across the school sectors (controlled, maintained and integrated) in Northern Ireland is a public policy issue that requires timely and accurate information. While the most recent currently available counts for the school population are derived from information collected at the Census 2001, a current understanding of differing fertility levels, and future school populations, by area of residence and community background would provide significant assistance to those determining planning for schools, and equality of access, in the longer term.

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November 15, 2019
Mortality after death of a spouse: Is risk the same for all groups?

Mortality after death of a spouse: Is risk the same for all groups?

Among married people, loss of a spouse has been shown to be associated with excess mortality, even after controlling for potential confounding factors. This phenomenon is known as the widowhood effect. While the widowhood effect has been found in a range of different studies across different countries, relatively little is known about how the size of the widowhood effect differs across different groups of people. One early study noted that excess mortality among widowers in higher social classes was greater than that of widowers in lower social classes; however, a more recent study found no education differences in the relative risk of mortality among the bereaved.

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November 15, 2019
Inter-Censal Migration Flows.

Inter-Censal Migration Flows.

Annual migration flows between local authorities are published as part of estimating the mid-year population. These flows are actually based on movements on the health card registration systems measured by changes of addresses but only the marginal flows are published. The link to the NILS data opens the possibility of estimating the annual cross-flows between areas and by characteristics not measured on health card registration data (such as self-reported health status in the previous Census) using Bayesian models that calibrate different sources of data to be consistent. This has potential implications for local health planning if specific areas are experiencing relatively high inflows of those with poorer health.

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November 15, 2019
The effect of population movement on the spatial distribution of socio-economic and health status.

The effect of population movement on the spatial distribution of socio-economic and health status.

Recent research has shown that despite government efforts to reduce inequalities in health between areas, the relative gap between those areas with the poorest and best health outcomes has in fact widened. One explanation for the widening gap is that health improvements amongst people living in affluent areas have occurred at a faster rate than for people in deprived areas. An alternative explanation is there has been selective movement between areas, with more affluent individuals leaving deprived and moving towards more affluent areas.

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November 15, 2019
A study of the socio-demographic and socio-economic factors related to risk of avoidable and preventable deaths in Northern Ireland.

A study of the socio-demographic and socio-economic factors related to risk of avoidable and preventable deaths in Northern Ireland.

This study will use the Northern Ireland Mortality Study (NIMS) to examine the socio-demographic and socio-economic determinants of deaths occurring in the five/six years following the 2001 Census that can be defined as ‘avoidable’. This follows on from (and builds on) an extensive review of the topic area by ONS (Wheller L, Baker A, Griffiths C, Rooney C, 2007), and will examine ‘avoidable mortality’ within a Northern Ireland context.

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November 15, 2019
Variation in morbidity and mortality by country of birth in Northern Ireland.

Variation in morbidity and mortality by country of birth in Northern Ireland.

The study of health differences between migrant and non-migrant groups is a potential source of insight into the causes of ill-health and can contribute to debates on the relative contribution of genetic or environmental factors in the aetiology of particular diseases. Often the most significant migrant groups to a country are those from neighbouring countries, yet these groups are only infrequently studied. While a substantial strand of epidemiological research has examined health outcomes for Irish and Scottish migrants to England and Wales and Irish migrants to Scotland, there has been little research into the health of migrant groups to Northern Ireland.

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November 15, 2019
DHSSPS Equality Assessment of Health Outcomes using NILS.

DHSSPS Equality Assessment of Health Outcomes using NILS.

Cause-specific mortality, particularly for cancers and heart disease, provide commonly available indicators for policy monitoring. However, defining appropriate population sub-groups of interest has, in the past, normally been limited solely to information provided on death certificates – and coded by the General Registry Office (GRO). In terms of ‘Section 75’ groups (S75) this amounts to reliable information for gender, age and marital status only with information on social class commonly recognised as being neither as reliable nor detailed as census data.

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November 15, 2019
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