Science, Technology and Engineering

Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Bendigo

The G. S. Watson Annual Lecture, 2005

La Trobe University, Bendigo G.S. Watson Annual Lecture, 2005 "Methodological Challenges from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health" by Professor Annette Dobson School of Population Health, The University of Queensland Thursday, 30 June 2005, 5.30pm to 6.30pm Education Lecture Theatre La Trobe University, Bendigo

Professor Annette Dobson

The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health is now in its 10th year. It involves more than 40,000 women throughout Australia who were aged 18-23 (Younger cohort), 45-50 (Mid aged cohort) and 70-75 (Older cohort) in 1996 at the time of the baseline survey. They were selected by stratified random sampling from the Medicare database with over-sampling in rural and remote areas.

The goals of the study are to determine the social, psychological, physical and environmental factors which determine good health, and those which cause ill-health, in women throughout adult life. It is funded by the Australian Department of Health and Ageing to provide policy relevant information. Self-reported data are collected every 3 years on: physical and mental health, symptoms, diagnoses; health service use, access and satisfaction; health related behaviour; and social factors related to health and well-being.

Some of the methodological challenges posed by the study include: maintenance of the cohorts; continuity of measures; missing data; and the analysis of longitudinal data. In this talk I'll describe the study and illustrate with examples how the research team is handling these challenges.