The Bristol Self Harm Register (BSHR) dataset: Linked self-harm register records of the children in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC)

Abstract

This data note describes the linking of records of the Bristol Self Harm Register with the cohort of the index children of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC – also known as ‘Children of the 90s’). These records were obtained from the computerised data base maintained by the Bristol Self Harm Register (BSHR). The BSHR is operated out of the two largest NHS trusts in the ALSPAC study catchment area, North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT) based at Southmead Hospital (SMH) in Bristol and the University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust (UHBWT) based at Bristol Royal Infirmary (BRI), also in Bristol. The BSHR database was designed to be populated by staff after an encounter with a patient attending with an indication of self-harm. Some of the information in the BSHR database was self-reported by the patient and was unable to be independently verified. Software syntax was written using STATA (StataCorp LLC, version 17) to convert the original files into a single consistent format in a data base which was reviewed for its potential use in future research. The cleaned BSHR records provide a contemporaneous record of a subset of the ALSPAC cohort over a period of the ALSPAC study in an easily accessible format, which is valuable when other sources of data may be missing.