Influences on psychosocial and physical health in early adulthood: phenotypic enrichment of the ALSPAC cohort through linkage to primary care electronic patient records and other databases.

The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) is the largest birth cohort with detailed biological and behavioural data from before birth through till late adolescence in the world and is organised as a resource for the whole scientific community (www.alspac.bris.ac.uk). Past assessments of ALSPAC participants have substantially been based on postal questionnaires and study clinics, with some information obtained through linkage to routine data. Logistical reasons and consideratio ns of cost-effectiveness mean that future follow up will be increasingly based on routine data linkage, which will also be used to address biases related to participant attrition. This project concerns the establishment of such a strategy; its aims are to: 1. Obtain consent for and establish mechanisms of linkage between ALSPAC study participants and routine sources of health and social data to enable enrichment of the study database and cost-effective prospective follow-up. 2. Investigate c hallenges to linkage based epidemiological research and follow-up of population-based cohorts and develop generalisable solutions to these problems 3. Demonstrate the value of linkage-based research through a series of exemplar projects on key health and social outcomes in young adulthood. 4. Establish a training and dissemination programme to share these methods and insights with other researchers.