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Objective We describe the creation of an Electronic Health Record (EHR) derived linked data platform within the Australian National Centre for Healthy Ageing (NCHA). Approach Our approach involved establishing a core set of EHR data suitable for research from the sole public health provider within a defined geographic region. Relevant items were selected based on published literature and consensus processes and curated within a specialised research data warehouse. Curation involved: data validation, quality assessment, internal linkage between episodes and data harmonisation/merging. An AI supported natural language processing pipeline was implemented to extract text-based data. Approvals were obtained from government agencies to link commonwealth claims data (primary care, medication, aged care, death) and state administrative hospital data, for all residents aged ≥60 years. Publicly available datasets were scoped for inclusion and collaborations established to incorporate local council data. Results A core of 113 curated items for >900,000 people over 10 years have been established across 4 hospitals and 10 community/outpatient services. Linked state and commonwealth data were obtained for 179,089 residents aged >60 years (Jan 2010-May 2021, linkage accuracy 98.4%). Environmental (greenery, air pollution, walkability) and Census data have been incorporated for each neighbourhood (Statistical Area 1). Data access, extraction and release has been tested through over 30 use-case projects in: dementia, residential aged care, medication use, homelessness, environmental impacts on health and ageing and health service redesign. Implications The NCHA Data Platform provides an international exemplar for the use of linked EHR data in advancing population health research.

Objective To determine the effectiveness of government policies supporting coordinated multidisciplinary primary care (MDC) in improving long-term survival following stroke or Transient Ischaemic Attack (TIA). Approach We used the target trial framework for observational data to assess the average population effect of primary care MDC policies. The cohort comprised patients from the Australian Stroke Clinical Registry (January 2012-June 2015) linked with (i) Australian Medicare claims to define exposures (MDC claims in the 6-18 months post-stroke); (ii) hospital, pharmaceutical and aged care datasets for additional covariates; (iii) National Death Registry for survival outcomes (19-30 months post-stroke). Level of impairment was classified by latent class analysis using EQ-5D-3L questionnaire data obtained 90-180 days post-stroke. Multilevel survival analysis with inverse probability treatment weights was applied. Results Among 7,255 people with stroke (42% female, median age 71 years, 24% TIA, level of impairment: 39% minimal, 32% moderate, 29% severe), 29% had a Medicare claim for MDC (23% minimal, 31% moderate, 39% severe). Mortality was reduced in those receiving a claim (vs non-receipt) in the minimal (adjusted Hazard Ratio (aHR): 0.50, 95%CI:0.27, 0.91) and severe (aHR: 0.65, 95%CI:0.46, 0.91) impairment groups, but not the moderate impairment group (aHR: 1.31, 95%CI:0.86, 1.99). Group differences in allied health services claimed during MDC were observed: secondary prevention (14% minimal vs 10% severe impairment), rehabilitation (21% minimal vs 25% severe impairment). Implications Drawing causal inferences from linked observational data demonstrated the population effectiveness of primary care MDC policies, in improving survival following stroke/TIA, with variation by impairment class.

Abstract Background Older people experiencing depression and anxiety have higher rates of health service utilisation than others, but little is known about whether these influence their seeking of emergency care. The aim was to examine the associations between symptoms of depression and the use of emergency health care, in an Australian context, among a population of people aged 70 years and over initially free of cardiovascular disease, dementia or major physical disability. Methods We undertook secondary analyses of data from a large cohort of community-dwelling Australians aged $$ \ge $$ 70 years. Multivariable logistic regression was used to compare the association of symptoms of depression (measured using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale 10 question version, CESD at baseline) with subsequent episodes of emergency care, adjusting for physical and social factors of clinical interest. Marginal adjusted odds ratios were calculated from the logistic regression. Results Data were available for 10,837 Australian participants aged at least 70 years. In a follow-up assessment three years after the baseline assessment, 17.6% of people self-reported an episode of emergency care (attended an ED of called an emergency ambulance) in the last 12 months. Use of emergency healthcare was similar for men and women (17.8% vs. 17.4% p = 0.61). A score above the cut-off on the CESD at baseline was associated with greater use of emergency health care (OR = 1.35, 95% CI 1.11,1.64). When modelled separately, there was a greater association between a score above the cut-off on the CESD and emergency healthcare for women compared with men. Conclusions This study is unique in demonstrating how depressive symptoms among healthy older persons are associated with subsequent increased use of emergency healthcare. Improved understanding and monitoring of mental health in primary care is essential to undertake effective healthcare planning including prevention of needing emergency care.

Objectives Electronic Health Record (EHR) data have created unique opportunities for research. However, these data are: not curated, siloed and poorly integrated. We describe linkage of EHR data from an entire health service with government datasets to establish a linked geographic cohort within the Australian National Centre for Healthy Ageing (NCHA). Approach Research suitable EHR items were identified from Peninsula Health (NCHA partner) data systems based on: published research, availability and quality. Items underwent end-user Delphi processes to identify core research items (consensus=70%). Approvals were obtained from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) for linkage with: Medicare, medication dispensings, Aged Care and death registry data through the AIHW spine, created using identifiers from the Medicare Consumer Directory (MCD); and from the Centre for Victorian Data Linkage for linkage to state-wide hospital data. Identifiers for local residents aged ≥60 years who attended Peninsula Health were submitted for probabilistic data linkage. Results Delphi participants included 10 researchers from 8 fields/departments and 13 clinicians from 11 clinical areas. To date 7 of the 11 datasets have been reviewed. N=107 potentially suitable data items were identified and 96 gained consensus for inclusion in the core dataset. Of the 49,767 Health Service users (episodes: Jan 2010-Dec May 2021) submitted for linkage, 98.4% were successfully linked to the MCD (Median age 72.2 years, 52.2% female, 1.8% regional residence). An additional 172,290 individuals living within the geographic region but not contained within the EHR dataset were identified in the MCD for linkage to the government datasets. Linkage accuracy was impacted by inaccurate/incomplete address fields (~30%) and lack of adherence to naming conventions within the EHR data. Conclusion Linking with EHR data is complex. Having an established EHR research dataset will improve the feasibility of data linkage and potential for future expansion of linkages within the NCHA. Once merged, the data will be used to underpin a range of research activities related to ageing and dementia.

Objectives To develop a flexible platform for creating, reviewing and adjudicating annotation of unstructured text. Natural Language Processing models and statistical classifiers use the results for analysis of large databases of text, such as electronic health records, that are curated by the National Centre for Healthy Ageing (NCHA) Data Platform. Approach Automated approaches are essential for large scale extraction of structured data from unstructured documents. We applied the CogStack suite to annotate clinical text from hospital inpatient records based on the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) for classifying dementia status. We trained a logistic regression classifier to determine dementia/non-dementia status within two cohorts based on frequency of occurrence of a set of terms provided by experts - one with confirmed dementia based on clinical assessment and the other confirmed non-dementia based on telephone cognitive interview. We used our annotation platform to review the accuracy of concepts assigned by CogStack. Results There were 368 people with clinically confirmed dementia and 218 screen-negative for dementia. Of these, 259 with dementia and 195 without dementia had documents in the inpatient electronic health record system, 84045 inpatient documents 16950 for the dementia and non-dementia cohort respectively. A set of key words pertaining to dementia was generated by a specialist neurologist and a health information manager, and matched to UMLS concepts. The NCHA data platform holds a copy of the inpatient text records (>13million documents) that has been annotated using CogStack. Annotated documents corresponding to the study cohort were extracted. We tested true positive rates of annotation against 50 concepts judged by a neurologist and health information manager to be relevant to dementia patients by manually review of 100 documents. Conclusion Automated annotations must be validated. The platform we have developed allows efficient review and correction of annotations to allow models to be trained further or provide confidence that accuracy is sufficient for subsequent analysis. Implementation within our linked NCHA data platform will allow incorporation of text based data at scale.