Useful links
Skip to main content
Search the University of Sydney website
Current students
Unit of study_
PUBH5215: Analysis of Linked Health Data
2025 unit information
Throughout our lives, information about our health and the care we receive is recorded and stored across various health-related databases, e.g., hospital admissions, cancer registry. Data linkage is a process that brings together information from various different sources about the same individual, family, place, or event. This process creates a chronological sequence of events that can be combined into a much larger story about the health of people, which can be used for research or to improve health services. This unit is suitable for health services researchers, policy makers, clinical practitioners, biostatisticians, and data managers. We explain how data linkage is conducted, illustrate how data linkage can be used for research, while highlighting the advantages, dangers, and pitfalls. We describe how to design linked data studies, outline the data management steps required before analysis, and discuss some of the methods and issues of analysing linked data. Students will have access to data from a real data linkage and will gain hands-on experience developing their programming skills in R for handling large complex datasets.
Unit details and rules
Managing faculty or University school:
Medicine and Health
| Study level | Postgraduate |
|---|---|
| Academic unit | Public Health |
| Credit points | 6 |
|
Prerequisites:
?
|
None |
|---|---|
|
Corequisites:
?
|
(PUBH5010 or BSTA5011 or CEPI5100) and (PUBH5211 or PUBH5217 or BSTA5004) |
| Prohibitions:
?
|
None |
| Assumed knowledge:
?
|
The unit assumes introductory-level programming skills in SAS or R, assumes introductory-level knowledge in epidemiology, e.g., PUBH5010 or CEPI5100, and introductory-level knowledge in biostatistics or statistics, e.g., PUBH5018 or FMHU5002. |
At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:
- LO1. understand the theory of data linkage methods and features of comprehensive data linkage systems, sufficient to know the sources and limitations of linked health data sets
- LO2. apply epidemiological principles to the design of studies using linked data
- LO3. construct numerators and denominators for the analysis of disease trends and health care utilisation and outcomes
- LO4. assess the accuracy and reliability of data sources
- LO5. check data linkages and assure the quality of the study process, e.g. consistency of definitions, missing data
- LO6. list the issues to be considered when analysing large linked data files
- LO7. write syntax to prepare linked data files for analysis, derive exposure and outcome variables, relate numerators and denominators, and produce results from statistical procedures.
Unit availability
This section lists the session, attendance modes and locations the unit is available in. There is a unit outline for each of the unit availabilities, which gives you information about the unit including assessment details and a schedule of weekly activities.
The outline is published 2 weeks before the first day of teaching. You can look at previous outlines for a guide to the details of a unit.
| Session | MoA ? | Location | Outline ? |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Intensive July - August 2025
|
Block mode | Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney |
Outline unavailable
|
|
Intensive July - August 2025
|
Online | Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney |
Outline unavailable
|
Find your current year census dates
Modes of attendance (MoA)
This refers to the Mode of attendance (MoA) for the unit as it appears when you’re selecting your units in Sydney Student. Find more information about modes of attendance on our website.
