IJPDS International Journal of Population Data Science

Public Health Scotland (PHS) has recently established a new national dataset providing information on all recognised pregnancies to women in Scotland from 2000 onwards: the Scottish Linked Pregnancy and Baby Dataset (SLiPBD). SLiPBD will enable ongoing surveillance and research on the health of pregnant women and babies. This in turn will inform policy and service development, helping to improve outcomes for women and babies.

PHS is Scotland’s national public health agency. It is part of the NHS and is responsible for protecting and improving health in Scotland and reducing inequalities in health. Summary records of care delivered by local NHS services (for example, an individual discharged from hospital, a prescription dispensed) are returned to PHS and held as Scotland’s national health datasets. PHS also receives copies of statutory birth and death registrations and holds these alongside the health datasets. PHS uses the national datasets to produce official health statistics and for population health surveillance and research. PHS also gives approved external researchers controlled access to data extracts (with personal information removed) through the NHS national safe haven facility to support additional research projects.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, PHS used the national datasets to conduct research on the impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection and the safety of COVID-19 vaccination in pregnancy. PHS then used the research findings to protect the health of pregnant women and babies, for example through promoting vaccination in pregnancy. Whilst this research was ultimately very successful, a substantial amount of work was required in its early stages to bring together records relating to ongoing or completed pregnancies that were held in different national datasets in order to have a single, up to date, source of information on all recognised pregnancies to women in Scotland – regardless of pregnancy duration or outcome – that could be used as the foundation stone for further analyses.

Now we are emerging from the pandemic, PHS is keen to ensure that lessons learned are translated into sustainable improvements in our national health data. This will support ongoing population health surveillance and research, and also strengthen pandemic preparedness so we can respond quickly to any future emerging health threats. PHS has established SLiPBD and committed to updating it on a monthly basis as part of this work. SLiPBD is already being used within PHS for analyses relating to vaccination in pregnancy; prescription of medicines that are potentially harmful to the baby if taken in pregnancy; and to support monitoring of pregnancy and newborn screening programmes. The linked article provides a detailed description of SLiPBD and demonstrates the high quality information it provides. Researchers interested in using SLiPBD and other national datasets held by PHS to contribute to improving maternal and child health through research are encouraged to submit an initial enquiry to Research Data Scotland.

 

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Dr Rachael Wood, Consultant in Public Health Medicine, Public Health Scotland, and Honorary Professor of Maternal and Child Public Health, University of Edinburgh

Lindsay, L., Mark, K., Moore, E., Carruthers, J., Hopkins, L., Jennings, D. and Wood, R. (2023) “Data resource profile: Scottish Linked Pregnancy and Baby Dataset (SLiPBD)”, International Journal of Population Data Science, 8(6). doi: 10.23889/ijpds.v8i6.2390.