Use of Health and Demographic Surveillance Site Data for Secondary Analyses: Guidance for Researchers Using Examples from Existing Analyses

Estelle McLean , London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM)
Emma Slaymaker, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM)
Rebecca Sear, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM)

Health and Demographic Surveillance sites (HDSS) are geographic open cohorts designed to monitor trends in mortality, fertility and migration in low and middle-income countries. Data on demographic events, socio-demographic and health indicators are regularly gathered on the whole population, often for decades, resulting in scope for complex longitudinal analyses which may take household and familial contexts into account. However, HDSSs also have issues which can make interpretation of data challenging: lack of data on migrants when they are outside of the area may cause bias for certain outcomes, and data repeatedly collected may result in inconsistencies and/or more reliable data for participants present in the HDSS for more time. This paper uses an in-depth review of published complex HDSS analyses to demonstrate the utility of using HDSS data for secondary analyses, and to provide guidance on the conduct and reporting of these analyses. The reviewed HDSS data analyses showcased the flexibility of HDSS data. While there were some interesting and novel ways used to approach the issues of repeated data, migration and missing data it was most striking how often they were not discussed. HDSS data producers are encouraged to ensure that the data is being used to its full potential, and HDSS data users to use appropriate techniques to allow for the complexities of the data, and ensure that their methods are clearly stated.

See extended abstract

 Presented in Session P2. Health, Mortality, Ageing - Aperitivo