Summary of the Project:

This study will utilise linked data to build a state-wide patient registry to establish the current trajectory of individuals with chronic kidney disease (CKD) across WA. The registry includes all individuals affected by CKD from 2002 onward, and links pathology results with hospital morbidity and mortality information. The data will be analysed to identify clinical indicators associated with progression from early to advanced CKD, or comorbidities, and the cost of CKD across the life course.

Objectives of the Project:

The data will be analysed to identify clinical indicators associated with progression from early to advanced CKD, or comorbidities, and the cost of CKD across the life course.

How the project will test SeRP capabilities (why was SeRP chosen?):

This project includes the linkage of pathology data from the four WA pathology providers; PathWest (WA Health), Western Diagnostics (Healius), Clinipath (Sonic Health) and ACL (Clinical Laboratories). These nationwide commercial pathology providers have not previously allowed the use of their data for linkage.

This was made possible using privacy-preserving linkage capabilities found within LinXmart the linkage component of SeRP. Using this software, the pathology providers encode their personally identifying data at the source, before sending it for linkage with LinXmart. The particular encoding process used allows linkage to occur without requiring personally identifying information.