The creation of a database of children of workers at a nuclear facility: An exercise in record linkage

We constructed a database containing birth certificate details of all 261,176 live births and 4059 stillbirths in Cumbria, in northwest England, from 1950 to 1989 for use as an epidemiological tool to examine the health of those who had parents employed at the nuclear installation, Sellafield, in particular in relation to the occupational radiation dose which the parents might have received while working there before their children were conceived. A computer database containing personal details of all 25,514 individuals employed at Sellafield over this period is maintained at Sellafield for epidemiological research purposes. A computer linkage exercise was carried out to match parents in the Cumbrian births database with these Sellafield employees. Ambiguous links were resolved by a clerical team who had access to paper records at Sellafield containing further employee details. Using the National Health Service Central Register, death, cancer, and emigration registrations occurring among the Cumbrian birth cohort before the end of 1989 were identified and entered into the database. 18,454 births were linked to 10,092 Sellafield employees. The 261,176 live births were also linked to 7318 deaths and 1716 cancer registrations. Thus we were able to identify and study the complete cohort of Cumbrian-born offspring of the Sellafield work force over a 40-year time period and compare the health outcome data of our exposed population with that of a large geographical area with a substantial population. The database construction demonstrates the feasibility of large-scale cohort studies of the effects of occupational and environmental exposures. © 1997, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.