Research Outputs

"Research based on linked records has the potential to make a major contribution to our understanding of the factors influencing disease, disability and death and ... in the evaluation of health services. Record linkage maximises the use of available data, makes feasible follow-up studies of large samples at low cost, permits retrospective studies to be conducted many years after exposure to some agent has taken place, minimises loss to follow-up and eliminates burden on respondents and reliance on self-reported data." (Sibthorpe et al, 1995)

More than 550 projects have made use of WA linked data since 1995. These projects have originated from University, Government and hospital-based settings and have often involved collaboration between diverse research groups. Below is a graph of the number of project applications received each year to Data Linkage WA.

A list of all projects from 1995 to 2007 detailing the title and investigators is available here WA Data Linkage Project List 1995-2007 (pdf format, 76kB).

A list of projects from 1995 to 2003, detailing the title, investigators, institution, research field, project status and research output production is available here Projects 1995-2003 (pdf format, 156 kB).

A register of all applications for data is maintained, along with outputs from the project. Researchers who obtain linked data are asked to submit a copy of any report, journal article, other publication, conference presentation or media interest generated from data supplied from the WADLS. To date, there have been 800+ research outputs of projects using the linkage system.

The Summary Report of the Research Outputs Project, including a list of project outputs from 1995 to 2003 is available here Summary of Research Outputs Project (pdf format, 446kB).