ALGAE Data Dictionary: Early life stage covariate data (algae5100-algae5104)

An automated protocol for assigning early life exposures to longitudinal cohort studies

ALGAE Data Dictionary: Early life stage covariate data (algae5100-algae5104)

by Kevin Garwood

Context of Variables

These variables describe administrative areas that study members occupied on the first day of each life stage in the early life analysis. They were produced by identifying the geocode used at the beginning of a life stage, and then mapping that to a set of administrative area codes. The codes allow epidemiologists to link these location records with covariate data that such as socio-economic levels.

Location of Result File

You will find these variables in a file having a name that fits the form: 
res_early_cov_[Date stamp].csv
which will be found in the directory: 
early_life/results/covariates

Example Result File

See here.

Variable Naming Conventions

The basic format of variables in this section follows this pattern: 
	algae51[00-04]_[pollution type]_[aggregate value]

In this pattern, algae51 indicates that they describe properties of life stages used in the early life analysis.

Variable Dictionary

Variable Description
algae5100_person_id An anonymised or pseudonymised identifier which represents a study member. ALGAE uses this variable to link data together for a given study member.
algae5101_life_stage The name of the life stage. For example, EL stands for the early life period.
algae5102_ed91 The code for a UK district, taken from the UK 1991 census.
algae5103_oa2001 The code for a UK output area, taken from the UK 2001 census.
algae5104_coa2011 The code for a UK output area, taken from the UK 2011 census.