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Data Linkage Opportunities

What is Data Linkage?

Data linkage involves linking information about the same person from multiple sources. Over 89% of OHS participants have provided their consent for their data to be linked with administrative health records, such as the Ontario Cancer Registry or OHIP claims databases.

By linking questionnaire and biosample data from OHS participants with data from other sources, the sky’s the limit in terms of research questions that can be investigated. Here’s a few examples:

In 2015 Dr. Marc Berman combined OHS questionnaire data with the City of Toronto’s forestry records to quantify the positive effect of neighbourhood green space on individual health

Research is currently ongoing with the Canadian Urban Environmental Health Research Consortium (CANUE), which is working to provide scientists with an index measuring exposures to air and noise pollution, green space and much more, for every postal code in Canada.

In 2020 Dr. Darren Brenner is looking at data from female OHS participants and the Ontario Cancer Registry to explore why some women under 50 get breast cancer.

Linkage Opportunities

OHS and ICES

The OHS has a data sharing agreement with ICES that facilitates linking de-identified OHS data with other data holdings at ICES, including, but not limited to:

  • Health services administrative data
  • Census profiles and population estimates
  • Specialized collections such as certain disease registries, and data sets pertaining to First Nations and Métis populations
  • Health survey data
  • Data on certain specific health conditions, including diabetes, high blood pressure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and heart attacks
  • Clinical data
  • Information on processes and quality of care collected directly from patients’ charts

Learn more about the breadth of ICES data holdings.

Non-ICES researchers, students and knowledge users can access these data through the ICES Data & Analytic Services (ICES DAS). For a full list of ICES Data Repository datasets, including detailed descriptions of individual variables and their values, view the ICES Data Dictionary.

Accessing OHS-linked ICES data requires separate access requests to be submitted to OHS and ICES. To learn more about how to request OHS data that is linked to ICES data sets, please email access@ontariohealthstudy.ca.

OHS and Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario)

OHS de-identified data can be linked with the Ontario Cancer Registry, which is held at Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario).

Accessing OHS-linked Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario) data requires separate access requests to both the OHS and Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario). To learn more about how to request OHS data that is linked to Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario)data sets, please email access@ontariohealthstudy.ca.

OHS and CANUE

OHS de-identified data can also be linked to local environmental data held by the Canadian Urban Environmental Health Research Consortium (CANUE).

As part of CanPath, some OHS data has been merged with CANUE exposure data sets and are now available to researchers. Learn more about CANUE data sets linked to health databases, and review what CANUE data are pre-linked to OHS data.

OHS Data Linkage Process

How do researchers access questionnaire and biosample data that has been linked with other datasets? From our November 2019 newsletter, here’s an example of the path a researcher would take to access de-identified data about OHS participants that has been linked with cancer records:

Learn more: Email our Research Operations and Access Officer at access@ontariohealthstudy.ca