Education and Child Health Insights from Linked Data (ECHILD)

Aims
The ECHILD database is a linkable collection of longitudinal, administrative datasets from the domains of health, education and social care for a whole population-based cohort of children and young people in England. It was established to enable large-scale, longitudinal research that explores inter-relationships across the domains of health, education and social care in childhood and adolescence.

Institution
University College London

Geographic coverage - Nations
England

Geographic coverage - Regions
National

Start date
2020

Catalogue record last updated
18/10/2024

Sample type
Linked cohort

Sample details
The ECHILD database brings together all children born between 1 September 1984 and 31 August 2022, who have records on the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) and National Pupil Database (NPD). Within these databases, contact with children's social care services is also linked. HES and NPD cover the entire population of children and young people in England who receive state-funded health, education, or social care services, regardless of their birthplace. HES includes records of all NHS-provided or funded hospital activities in England, such as births, inpatient admissions, outpatient appointments, A&E visits, community, maternity and mental health services data. The NPD contains information on state-funded education and children's social care services.

Comprehensive details about ECHILD and the data within the ECHILD database can be found in the ECHILD User Guide and Data Catalogue.

Sample size at recruitment
14.7 million (2021)

Sample size at most recent sweep
20 million (2023)

Sex
All

Age at recruitment
0-38 years

Cohort year of birth
1984-2020