Created 01-Jul-2020

Last updated 23-Jul-2020

The health measures were collected using different instruments at the various sites. Only height and weight data available from Scandinavia. Query whether other information was collected.

There are four main components:

1. Information about the birth status of the twin (prematurity & birth complications):
   • In AUS: from tblParentInfo.xlsx, last updated 03-Apr-2015
   • In CO: from prekinfo.xlsx, last updated 25-Apr-2013
   • In SCAN: from SWE_addata 20120903.sav (does not have birth complications).
2. Information about the cumulative health status of the twins prior to IT testing (medical problems, medications, speech problems, and handedness)
   • In AUS: from tblParentInfo.xlsx
   • In CO: from prekinfo.xlsx (Handedness collected by testers at post-K visit)
   • In SCAN: No information located.
3. Information about past year accidents, illnesses, and other health problems at each wave (see initial CO form) IT form
   • In CO: from health forms for each age (maternal report)
   • In AUS: At IT, no past year form separate from the pre-K cumulative tblParentInfo.xlsx; F1-F3 from HealthF1,HealthF2, & HealthF3.sav files. See intake form here: AUS Intake
   • In SCAN: No information located
4. Information about height and weight (IT-F4), plus birth weight and Apgar scores, plus zygosity (& source)
   • In AUS: birth weight from tblParentInfo.xlsx, Missing IT-F3
   • In CO: birth weight and Apgar from birth cert Verified BWGRAMS & APGAR5 from certs, and birth weight from parent CTR form; IT-F4 from tester reports
   • In SCAN: birth weight, birth length, and IT-F4 from SWE_addata 20120903.sav

In addition, some information about problems apparent during testing were collated from tester reports, with the idea that they might be useful for explaining within-family (particularly MZ) differences Here is a copy of meeting notes in Australia in 2007 where the idea was discussed: Discordancies

Family and school issue data were entered for F3 in CO as post2healthcodes2-08.xlsx. Up to three family codes and three school codes could be entered per child. However, many of these codes are common to both twins, rather than child-specific. Numerical codes for these categories: Allergies, Emotional or Behavioral, Medical or Physical, Family issues, Prenatal or Birth Conditions, and School Issues are listed in this Word document: Health codes.

Equivalent coded data has not been located for Australia. I examined tester comments entered by Rosemary to see if similar material was noted, but notes did not seem to cover non-test-session material.

Open Questions

1. Did earlier data files from Stefan contain any health information?
   • Apparently Not: Can only locate Literacy, Behavior, and Questionnaire files
2. Did the AUS updates of parent data in the Parent Tables (May, 2015) contain additional health information?
   • Apparently Not: ID comparisons show 1 more subject in HealthF1.sav, same subjects in HealthF3.sav
3. Are there any other data that should be incorporated into the health file?
   • None identified from inspection of Emily Bullen, Luisa Livingstone, and Robyn Mansfield theses
   • Reading Problems/Diagnoses In CO, have F1-F4 files with Reading Problems and Other Comments (which includes information about therapies & repeating grades). Should this information go into the Health file?

1. From AUS: Height and Weight measures for F1-F3
2. From AUS: Past year data on accidents, illnesses, allergies at IT (wrapped into cumulative problems?)
3. From AUS: Coded set of individual child issues explaining discrepant twin performance
4. From SCAN: Birth complications
5. From SCAN: Information on cumulative health issues at time of IT
6. From SCAN: Past year data of accidents, illnesses, allergies IT-F4
7. From SCAN: Codes for individual children to explain discrepant twin performance