The NCS Data Linkage Program: Linkage of Household Environmental Lab Results to Environmental Extant Data

• Activity Number: 697
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Thursday, August 8, 2013 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Government Statistics Section
• Author(s): Michael Sinclair*+ and Ned English and Christina Park
• Companies: NORC and NORC and Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
• Keywords: Administrative Data ; Data Linkage ; Environmental Studies ; Data Harmonization

Abstract

This paper reports an on the authors' experiences with the collection and linkage of extant air and water quality to a sample of National Children Study (NCS) Vanguard Study participants and their corresponding household monitoring and lab results. We first acquired extant water quality data from public water suppliers encompassing seven counties in the NCS Vanguard Pilot study between 2005 and 2009. Then, we attempted to link to a single household collection from the available pilot study participant households to the associated extant water data to enhance the data set. Likewise, we compiled data from the Environmental Protection Agencies AIRS, Aerometric Information Retrieval System, database for similar enhancement. We will describe the challenges associated with the collection, harmonization, and linkage of extant data, as well as the comparison of pollutant values in time and space. We will also present a limited comparison of the household lab results to the extant data pollutant values and suggest how changes to these activities could be enhanced to promote better linkages in the NCS main study.