Wales Electronic Cohort for Children

The investigators are developing a research platform capable of improving children's health through the generation of knowledge from analysis of routinely collected data from within and outside the health service. The investigators are using the data that are routinely collected in Wales to answer specific questions about child health and well-being, with the aim of informing policy and practice in Wales, whilst also being internationally relevant. Routinely collected datasets are publicly funded, and have already been incorporated into the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage databank. The investigators are combining these datasets on children from health and social care to establish an anonymised Wales wide Electronic Cohort for Children (WECC). WECC will serve as the platform for future work in translating information into child population health policy. There are 35,000 births in Wales per year, and data are available for the previous ten years. Thus, WECC will be sufficiently powered to answer important social, economic and health policy questions. WECC will also act as a demonstration project which would inform the development of e-cohorts to support translational research across the life course and disease spectrum.