Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health

The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health (ALSWH) is the largest, longest-running project of its kind in Australia. The longitudinal, population-based survey explores the factors contributing to the health and wellbeing of over 57,000 Australian women in four birth cohorts – 1989-95, 1973-78, 1956-51, 1921-26. The survey data are linked to State and Commonwealth administrative health datasets. These include PBS, MBS, death, cancer, aged care, Department of Veterans Affairs, hospital admissions, emergency care and perinatal datasets. When combined, these data build a rich story describing the complex physical, psychological, social, behavioural, and demographic factors that influence women’s health and use of healthcare services across the course of their lives. The Study has been continually funded by successive Australian governments since 1996. It is currently funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care and jointly managed by The University of Newcastle and The University of Queensland. Since 1996, ALSWH has worked with the Department of Health and other decision-making bodies to provide evidence supporting the development and evaluation of policy and practice in areas of service delivery affecting women. Notably, ALSWH data and policy briefs contributed to the development of the Australian Government's National Women's Health Strategy 2020 to 2030. The Study is also a national research resource and its data are freely available for research use through an expression of interest process. Since the Study began, over 800 scientific publications have been produced.