Overview
I am a statistician in the Division of Population Medicine. My research centres on epidemiology in the early years of life. My specialties are the use large complex administrative datasets and longitudinal quantitative data analyses including Bayesian multilevel modelling, Andersen-Gill models and multiple imputation.
Current research projects - aims:
Determine the association between asthma or wheeze severity during the first six years of life and educational attainment at age 6-7 years using SAIL administrative data sets. I consider the influence of respiratory infections and investigate whether school absence explains this relationship.
Define Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) using SAIL administrative data sets and assess their individual association with educational attainment and special educational needs support during childhood.
Establish the improvement in health outcomes for Down Syndrome children during the last 20 years using SAIL administrative data sets.
Evidence the association between ACEs and educational attainment at age 16 years for children with and without social services contact using SAIL administrative data sets.
My previous research includes investigation of the aetiology of birth defects using survey methods, the impact of residential moves on health and school attainment, effects of ACEs on childhood emergency admissions and to determine the association between emergency hospital admissions and educational attainment outcomes during childhood.
I am currently studying towards a PhD titled “Impact of childhood health and social factors on educational attainment: Analysis using administrative data”.
Publications
2023
- Anthony, R. et al. 2023. Adversity profiles of children receiving care and support from social services: A Latent-class analysis of school-aged children in Wales. Child: Care, Health and Development 49(5), pp. 889-897. (10.1111/cch.13097)
- Hurt, L. et al. 2023. Childhood outcomes in children with and without cardiac echogenic foci: An electronic birth cohort study in Wales, UK. Children 10(7), article number: 1233. (10.3390/children10071233)
2022
- Esperanza, R., Evans, A., Tucker, D., Paranjothy, S. and Hurt, L. 2022. Hospital admissions in infants with Down syndrome: a record-linked population-based cohort study in Wales. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research 66, pp. 225-239. (10.1111/jir.12903)
- Hutchings, H. A., Evans, A., James-Ellison, M., Lyons, R. A. and Barnes, P. M. 2022. Gestational age at birth and health and educational outcomes - a cohort study. The Welsh Paediatric Journal 56, pp. 23-28.
- Evans, A. 2022. Impact of childhood health and household experiences on educational attainment: Analysis using administrative data. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University.
2021
- Lowthian, E. et al. 2021. Adverse childhood experiences and child mental health: an electronic birth cohort study. BMC Medicine 19, article number: 172. (10.1186/s12916-021-02045-x)
- Evans, A., Farewell, D., Demmler, J., Bandyopadhyay, A., Powell, C. V. E. and Paranjothy, S. 2021. Association of asthma severity and educational attainment at age 6-7 years in a birth cohort: population-based record-linkage study. Thorax 76(2) (10.1136/thoraxjnl-2020-215422)
2020
- Evans, A. et al. 2020. Adverse childhood experiences during childhood and academic attainment at age 7 and 11 years: an electronic birth cohort study. Public Health 189, pp. 37-47. (10.1016/j.puhe.2020.08.027)
- Allen, L. A. et al. 2020. Pregnancy in teenagers diagnosed with type 1 diabetes mellitus in childhood: a national population based e-cohort study. Diabetologia 63, pp. 799-810. (10.1007/s00125-019-05063-w)
2019
- Evans, A. et al. 2019. The role of health and social factors in education outcome: a record-linked electronic birth cohort analysis. PLoS ONE 14(8), article number: e0220771. (10.1371/journal.pone.0220771)
- Trefan, L. et al. 2019. Electronic Longitudinal Alcohol Study in Communities (ELAStiC) Wales - protocol for platform development. International Journal of Population Data Science 4(1), article number: 14. (10.23889/ijpds.v4i1.581)
2018
- Paranjothy, S. et al. 2018. Risk of emergency hospital admission in children associated with mental disorders and alcohol misuse in the household: an electronic birth cohort study. Lancet Public Health 3(6), pp. e279-e288. (10.1016/S2468-2667(18)30069-0)
2017
- Moore, S. C. et al. 2017. The ELAStiC (Electronic Longitudinal Alcohol Study in Communities) project. International Journal for Population Data Science 1(1), article number: 264. (10.23889/ijpds.v1i1.284)
2016
- Hutchings, H. A. et al. 2016. Residential moving and preventable hospitalizations. Pediatrics 138(1), article number: e 2015283. (10.1542/peds.2015-2836)
- Hutchings, H. A. et al. 2016. Does frequent residential mobility in early years affect the uptake and timeliness of routine immunisations? An anonymised cohort study. Vaccine 34(15), pp. 1773-1777. (10.1016/j.vaccine.2016.02.049)
2013
- Palmer, S. R. et al. 2013. The role of maternal stress in early pregnancy in the aetiology of gastroschisis: an incident case control study. PLoS ONE 8(11), article number: e80103. (10.1371/journal.pone.0080103)
- Hutchings, H. A. et al. 2013. Do children who move home and school frequently have poorer educational outcomes in their early years at school? An anonymised cohort study. PLoS ONE 8(8), article number: e70601. (10.1371/journal.pone.0070601)
2012
- Paranjothy, S. et al. 2012. The role of maternal nutrition in the aetiology of gastroschisis: an incident case-control study. International Journal of Epidemiology 41(4), pp. 1141-1152. (10.1093/ije/dys092)
- Lyons, R. A. et al. 2012. Development and use of a privacy-protecting total population record linkage system to support observational, interventional, and policy relevant research. The Lancet 380, article number: S6. (10.1016/S0140-6736(13)60362-1)
Teaching
- Tutor – Statistical methodology module on the Masters in Primary Care and Public Health
- Data clinic statistics support for students and staff
- Small group teaching, Epidemiology and Statistics - Undergraduate Medicine
- Medical statistics
- Large datasets
- Administrative data
- Child health and education
- Congenital anomalies
The Wales Electronic Cohort for Children (WECC) contains anonymised administrative records for over 890,000 children in Wales. I was involved in the set-up of this cohort and continue to use the data set in research to improve the lives of children in Wales and reduce health inequalities.
Supervision
- Dissertation supervisor - Masters in Primary Care and Public Health
- Intercalated year project supervisor – Undergraduate Medicine