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Researcher Experience: Dr Michael Fleming

by | Jan 18, 2024

I am delighted to be sharing this Researcher Experience post from Dr Michael Fleming. Mike works at the University of Glasgow as a Lecturer in Public Health in the School of Health and Wellbeing. When I bumped into Mike at the International Population Data Linkage Network Conference in 2022, I was excited to talk to him and see if he would share his experiences with eCRUSADers. It isn’t an understatement to say that Mike has done a HUGE amount of work using administrative data over the last 18 years (not sure if we can still class you as an Early Career Researcher Mike but we can certainly hope to learn from your wisdom!).
He started out his administrative data journey in 2005 at Information Services Division (ISD) Scotland (now Public Health Scotland but we all still somehow find ourselves on old ISD web-pages from time to time don’t we…). In 2014 he began his PhD entitled “Using Scotland wide record linkage to investigate the educational and health outcomes of children treated for chronic conditions” at the University of Glasgow before joining ISD again in 2017. Then, in 2018, Mike began working as a full time researcher at the University of Glasgow.
I hope you enjoy reading Mike’s experiences and that we can all gleam something from his 18 years in the field.

Overview of research

My PhD project (2014-2017) linked education data (pupil census, absences, exclusions, leaver destination, exam results) for all children attending school in Scotland (2009-2019) to health data (SMR01, SMR04, PIS, SMR06, SCI-Diabetes, SMR02, SBR, SMR11, CHSP, NRS births, NRS deaths) to look at educational and health outcomes among children treated for chronic conditions. I also have another project investigating antenatal exposures to medication and children’s health, educational, and neurodevelopmental outcomes.

The initial linkage of health to education data for my PhD (described above) was undertaken in 2014 and has been fruitful as it has resulted in:

  • My PhD thesis entitled “Using Scotland wide record linkage to investigate the educational and health outcomes of children treated for chronic conditions”.
  • My subsequent HDR UK post doc fellowship awarded in 2018 and undertaken between 2018 and 2021 entitled “Investigating children’s health and educational outcomes associated with chronic conditions, early life factors, neonatal/childhood morbidity, and maternal/obstetric factors.”
  • Fourteen published papers (nine first author, four lead author, and one co-author) with two more currently in review and more in the pipeline. The publications are listed at the end of this post.

Datasets

Scottish datasets:

  • Acute hospital admissions (SMR01)
  • Psychiatric hospital admissions (SMR04)
  • Cancer registrations (SMR06)
  • Death records (NRS)
  • Maternity records (SMR02)
  • Neonatal admissions (SMR11)
  • Birth records (NRS)
  • Scottish Birth Record (SBR)
  • Stillbirth and Infant Death records (SSBID and SBID)
  • Prescribing records (PIS)
  • Child Health records (CHSP)
  • Diabetes Register (SCI Diabetes)
  • Scottish Census
  • Scottish Pupil Census (Scottish Government Education data)
  • Scottish Qualifications Awards (SQA) data
 Welsh datasets

  • Birth records (ADBE)
  • Death records (ADDE)
  • Congenital anomalies (CARS)
  • Child health data (NCCHD)
  • Education data (EDUW)
  • Maternity data (MIDS)
  • Hospitalisations (PEDW)
  • Primary care and Prescribing data (WLGP)

 

 

 

Summary of any challenges faced

I always find it a challenge to keep on top of the admin when it comes to applying for data. It is a very onerous task, and it becomes challenging when multiple documents are being returned from different organisations at different points with comments and changes required. Working with the data is easy by comparison!

Thoughts for fellow and future eCRUSADers

  • Start the process early when it comes to applying for data linkage or access to administrative data.
  • Don’t underestimate how long it may take.
  • Design your linkages so that a request can answer multiple research questions.

Public Benefit Privacy Panel Timelines

Project: PhD project

Preparation of PBPP application: Jan 2014 to June 2014 (~6 months)

Initial submission to PBPP approval: June 2014 to Sept 2014 (~3months)

PBPP approval to data access: Sept 2014 to April 2015 (~7 months)

Project: PhD project update (largely same data but for all children attending school in Scotland 2009-2019)

Preparation of PBPP application: Jan 2020 to April 2020 (~3 months)

Initial submission to PBPP approval: April 2020 to October 2022 (~30 months)

PBPP approval to data access: October 2022 – present (currently no access)

Project: Antenatal exposure to medication and children’s health

Preparation of PBPP application: Jan 2020 to April 2020 (~3 months)

Initial submission to PBPP approval: April 2020 to October 2022 (~30 months)

PBPP approval to data access: October 2022 – October 2024 (~24 months)

 

Publications using administrative data

Bala JJ, Bala JD, Pell JP, Fleming M. Association between 5-min Apgar score and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a Scotland-wide record linkage study of 758,423 school children. BMC Psychiatry. (accepted for submission 2023)

Baughan N, Pell JP, Mackay DF, Clark D, King A, Fleming, M. Educational outcomes in childhood cancer survivors: A Scotland-wide record-linkage study of 766,217 schoolchildren. PLoS One. PLoS One. 2023. 18(7), e0286840.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0286840

Adams LJ, Pell JP, Mackay DF, Clark D, King A, Fleming, M. Infant feeding method and special educational need in 191,745 Scottish schoolchildren: a national, population cohort study. PLoS Medicine. 2023. 20(4), e1004191.https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1004191

Visnick MJ, Pell JP, Mackay DF, Clark D, King A, Fleming, M. (2023) Educational and employment outcomes associated with childhood traumatic brain injury in Scotland: a population-based record-linkage cohort study. PLoS Medicine. 2023. 20(3), e1004204.https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1004204

Fleming M, Bandyopadyay A, McLay JS, Clark D, Kind A, Mackay DF, Lyons RA, Sayal K, Brophy S, Pell JP. Age within schoolyear and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in Scotland and Wales. BMC Public Health. 2022; 22: 1070 https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-022-13453-w

Fleming M, McLay JS, Clark D, King A, Mackay DF, Minnis H, Pell JP. Educational and health outcomes of schoolchildren in local authority care in Scotland: a retrospective record linkage study. PLoS Medicine. 2021; 18(11):e1003832https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1003832

Bogie J, Fleming M, Cullen B, Mackay D, Pell JP. Using graphic modelling to identify modifiable mediators of the association between area-based deprivation at birth and offspring unemployment. PLoS One. 2021; 16(3): e0249258 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0249258

Fleming M, McLay JS, Clark D, King A, Mackay DF, Pell JP. Health, educational and employment outcomes among children treated for a skin disorder: Scotland-wide retrospective record linkage cohort study of 766,244 children. PLoS One. 2020; 15(12): e0243383 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0243383

Fleming M, Salim EE, Mackay DF, Henderson A, Kinnear D, Clark D, King A, McLay, JS, Cooper SA, Pell JP. Neurodevelopmental multimorbidity and educational outcomes of Scottish schoolchildren: A population-based record linkage cohort study. PLoS Medicine. 2020; 17(10): e1003290 https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1003290

Fleming M, Fitton CA, Steiner MFC, McLay JS, Clark D, King A, Mackay DF, Pell JP. Educational and health outcomes of children and adolescents receiving antidepressant medication: Scotland-wide retrospective record linkage cohort study of 766 237 schoolchildren. International Journal of Epidemiology. 2020; 49(4):1380-1391 https://academic.oup.com/ije/article/49/4/1380/5740768?login=true

Fleming M, Fitton CA, Steiner MFC, McLay JS, Clark D, King A, Lindsay RS, Mackay DF, Pell JP. Educational and health outcomes of children treated for type 1 diabetes: Scotland-wide record linkage study of 766,047 children. Diabetes Care. 2019; 42(9):1700-1707 https://diabetesjournals.org/care/article/42/9/1700/36316/Educational-and-Health-Outcomes-of-Children

Fleming M, Fitton CA, Steiner MFC, McLay JS, Clark D, King A, Mackay DF, Pell JP. Educational and health outcomes of children treated for asthma: Scotland-wide record linkage study of 683,716 children. European Respiratory Journal. 2019; 54(3): 1802309 https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/54/3/1802309

Fleming M, Fitton CA, Steiner MFC, McLay JS, Clark D, King A, Mackay DF, Pell JP. Educational and health outcomes of children and adolescents receiving antiepileptic medication: Scotland-wide record linkage study of 766 244 schoolchildren. BMC Public Health. 2019; 19(595) i:10.1186/s12889-019-6888-9)(PMID:31101093 https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-019-6888-9

Fleming M, Fitton CA, Steiner MFC, McLay JS, Clark D, King A, Mackay DF, Pell JP. Educational and health outcomes of children treated for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. JAMA Pediatrics. 2017; 171((7):e170691. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2624340