Research Projects
- Air pollution Health Impact Assessment
- Estimating trends in incidence and mortality of breast and colorectal cancer in England
- Build environment and health in English cities
- CD3 study: Cancer Data Driven Detection
- Short-term ambient temperature and dementia-related emergency hospital admissions
- Disentangling the health effects of NO2 and PM2.5 in times-series analysis
- Estimating the heat-related burden of diabetes and health co-benefits of climate policy
- Evaluating policy implementations to predict mental health: a Bayesian hierarchical framework for quasi-experimental designs in longitudinal studies
- Evaluating the burden of climate-related respiratory disease using high resolution spatiotemporal models
- Excess mortality in England during the extensive heatwave of summer 2022: A nationwide small area study
- Forecasting small-area mortality using a Bayesian spatio-temporal approach-Small Area Methodology 3
- HDRUK mortality patterns
- Health Impact Assessment of air pollution on asthma in London (2)
- Health Inequality
- Impact of environmental inequities on health in England
- Model for small-area trends in cause-specific and all-cause mortality - Small Area Methodology 2
- Oesophageal cancer patterns and environmental risk factors
- Population and socio-economic data update - Small Area Methodology 6
- Project scoping - sample size estimations
- Public Health Impacts of Clean Air Zones (London ULEZ)
- Shingles vaccination. The potential of herpes zoster vaccination in reducing geographic and socioeconomic inequalities in dementia incidence
- Small area variation in coronary heart disease event rates, mortality and survival in England
- Spatio-temporal modelling to detect early term pregnancy loss in response to climate change
- Spatio-temporal patterns in excess mortality and morbidity during Covid-19 pandemic: cross-country comparison
- Spatio-temporal patterns in kidney cancer incidence in adults in England, 1981-2019
- A statistical framework for the apportionment of particulate contaminants and their health effect determination
- Suicide disease map (pilot)
- The air quality health and economic costs and benefits of a zero carbon UK
- The impact of brownfield sites on health
Project aims
The Environment Research Group, in collaboration with SAHSU, has an ongoing work programme to estimate health impacts of air pollution to provide support and evidence to national and local governments. Health Impact Assessments allow burden calculations which estimate the size of the health impact of air pollution in a particular area, and impact calculations which allow the health benefits of policy proposals to be assessed. While the health outcomes and air pollutants of interest may differ slightly, the general principles and methods and responsible data handling apply to all health impact assessment projects. Health Impact Assessments are generally funded ad hoc to address an urgent policy needs and are often short-term projects of approximately 3 months. There is therefore a need to react in a timely manner.
Geography
England and Wales
Data
NHS Digital (HES) Inpatient
ONS Live Birth
ONS Death
Contact
Project aims
This project aims to understand the factors driving breast and colorectal cancer trends in England. Using national cancer registration and mortality data from 2002–2017 (extending as data becomes available in SAHSU), we will compare how breast and colorectal cancer cases and deaths have changed over time according to geography, social deprivation, stage at diagnosis and whether the cancer was found by screening.
Period and geography
2025 - 2030
England
Data
ONS Cancer Registrations
NHS Digital HES England: admitted patient care
HES-ONS Linked Mortality
Contact
Project aims
The aim of this project is to evaluate the relationships between air pollution, noise, greenness and neighborhood walkability and mortality within major cities in England. Measures of each of these environmental factors will be linked at postcode level to mortality records and evaluated to assess the strength of relationships after accounting for area-level mobility, ethnicity and other risk factors for death (tobacco, alcohol, physical activity). Project outcomes include descriptive information on the distributions of air pollution, noise, greenness and walkability within and between all cities in England with populations above 500,000. Analyses will identify which of these environmental factors are the strongest predictors of mortality for major (e.g. cardiovascular, respiratory, neurologic) causes. Results will help cities and citizens prioritize environmental factors for healthy urban design.
Data
ONS mortality data
Contact
Project aims
We are working with the Cancer Data Driven Detection (CD3) initiative to undertake research into the patterns of cancer diagnosis in England. Overall, the CD3 programme is working to improve our understanding of who is most at risk of cancer so that we can develop better approaches to preventing cancer or diagnosing it earlier.
In SAHSU we will be using the information on people who are diagnosed with cancer from the national Cancer Registration and Analysis Service. There are 12 priority cancers listed in the CD3 programme and we will initially study breast cancer incidences that were diagnosed in the 22 year period between 2002 and 2023.
We will analyse the information to produce maps which will show the changes in cancer diagnoses through time and the areas of England that have unusually higher or lower rates of cancer. We will then look to see whether there are things in our environment which could help to explain the differences we have seen in rates of cancer diagnosis. We will look at the role of factors like ethnicity, poverty, smoking, living in cities, overcrowding, access to health care and air, soil, noise and light pollution.
Period and geography
2002-2023
England
Data
PHE Cancer Registrations
NHS Digital HES England: admitted patient care
ONS Mortality
Contact
Project aims
This study will explore the short-term effects of hot weather on emergency hospital admissions for dementia across England. We will examine whether risks vary by age, sex, care setting, neighbourhood disadvantage, housing quality, and region. The findings will provide evidence for targeted public health actions to protect people with dementia as the UK climate warms.
Period and geography
2015 - 2023
England
Data
NHS Digital HES England: admitted patient care
Contact
Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) are air pollutants that are both emitted from traffic sources. This means that it can be difficult to distinguish which pollutants are responsible for health effects on high air pollution days since they both build up under certain weather conditions (e.g. when it is cold and still) and are both lower with other weather conditions (e.g. when it is windy and rainy). This means that NO2, for example, might appear to have health effects but only because PM2.5 went up at the same time.
At the extreme, if NO2 only appears to have health effects due to its’ correlation with PM2.5, then if there is all NO2 and no PM2.5, then NO2 will no longer appear to have health effects at all. That extreme is unlikely, but the same principle applies if the ratio changes to include a lower proportion of PM2.5compared with NO2, giving a smaller apparent effect of NO2.
Project aims
- To analyse the time trends in the ratio of NO2 to PM2.5 in around 10 major UK cities (depending on available co-located monitoring data for both pollutants).
- To examine the ratio of NO2 to PM2.5 as an effect modifier for the relative risk of each pollutant on health outcomes in time-series analysis.
- To analyse changes in the relative risk of both pollutants on health outcomes in an interrupted time-series analysis, if sufficiently sharp changes in ratio are found.
We will calculate ratios of daily NO2 to PM2.5 concentrations at different monitoring sites (separately for background and traffic sites) within each of the ten largest UK cities in terms of population size: Greater London, Birmingham, Glasgow, Liverpool, Bristol, Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, Edinburgh and Leicester, as well as Cardiff and Belfast as these are the largest cities in Wales and Northern Ireland, respectively.
We will analyse the data using a standard city-level time-series analysis relating daily NO2 and PM2.5 concentrations to health outcomes, controlling for temperature and long-term trend in health outcomes. We will use effect modification analysis to test for a significant interaction of the main coefficient for each pollutant with the NO2 to PM2.5 ratio. Subject to the data, we aim to perform an interrupted time-series analysis in selected cities, looking for changes in the main coefficient before and after a sharp change in ratio. Consistency across cities will be examined for both types of analysis.
The health outcomes we will study include all-cause and cause-specific mortality, and hospital admissions with respiratory and cardiovascular conditions.
Geography
England, Wales, Scotland
Data
NHS Digital HES: Inpatient and A&E
ONS Death
Contact
Project aims
This proposal aims to advance our understanding of the impact of exceptional heat exposures on the health of people living with diabetes and to explore the effects of adaptation/mitigation policies. The key aims are as follows:
Aim 1. Examine the short-term effect of heat exposure on mortality and hospitalisation for a range of conditions (including cardiovascular and respiratory disease) and explore the role of age, sex and socioeconomic deprivation in patterns observed.
Aim 2. Assess how the short-term effect of heat exposure on mortality and hospitalisation varies in time (e.g. role of adaptation), space (e.g. urban/rural or other population characteristics) and across different levels of air-pollution.
Aim 3. Estimate the heat related burden of disease and associated costs in people with diabetes in England and explore the effect of different policies (e.g. future climate scenarios and clean air zones) using synthetic cohorts.
Geography
England
Data
NHS Digital HES: Admitted patient care and emergency care
ONS mortality data
Contact
Project aims
Build a generalisable modelling framework to evaluate the individual and area level impact of “shocks” (i.e., government policy) on health outcomes (i.e., mental wellbeing) over time. The developed framework will be transferable to any type of policy implementation (e.g. environmental) and health outcomes.
Period and Geography
2000-2022
England
Data
ONS Civil Registration Data - Death
Contact
Project aims
This study will develop comprehensive statistical models and quantify the effect of extreme temperatures with respect to respiratory health. Nationwide data will be used and will focus on the four most populous cities which, due to high buildings and poor air quality are known to experience higher temperatures than neighbouring rural areas. The aims of this study are to predict future respiratory hospitalization based on different emissions scenarios and quantify corresponding costs and examine how increasing the land area of green spaces in cities can help decrease future respiratory hospitalizations.
Period and geography
England and Wales
Data
NHS Digital HES
Contact
Project aims
The summer of 2022 in England was one of the warmest in the past 10 years. The heatwaves in the summer of 2022 were more frequent and lasted longer than in previous years. Very high temperatures can increase ill health and increase deaths. The people most at risk include those over 75 years of age, the very young and people with a chronic illness. The UK Health Security Agency provides advice to people in England on sensible precautions to take during a heatwave and the NHS provides guidance for health and social care professionals. The study we would like to undertake will improve our understanding of the impact this summer’s high temperatures had on all-cause mortality and will be useful in guiding future preparedness and resilience activities.
The aim of this project is to quantify the excess all-cause mortality (comparison of number of deaths from all causes during summer 2022 and number of deaths expected had the extended heatwave event not occurred) during the summer 2022. This project builds on Dr Konstantinoudis’ MRC fellowship which focuses on the impact of temperature on respiratory hospital admissions and uses this expertise to address a timely public health need. We will study population groups defined by age group (<40, 40-59, 60-69, 70-79 and 80+), sex and deprivation to assess the impact of the extended heatwave during summer 2022 in Local Authorities in England.
Geography
England
Data
ONS mortality
Contact
Project aims
The aim of the project is to develop, test and apply statistical methods for estimating both historical and projected trends in total and cause-specific mortality.
Data
ONS Mortality
Contact
Publications
Bennett JE, Li G, Foreman K, Best N, Kontis V, Pearson C, Hambly P, Ezzati M. The future of life expectancy and life expectancy inequalities in England and Wales: Bayesian spatiotemporal forecasting. Lancet April 2015; http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(15)60296-3/abstract
Project aims
Approximately two thirds of annual deaths in England are among individuals aged 75 years and over. This proportion is projected to increase as life expectancy increases.
Trends in the causes of death in older adults and those with dementia are also changing. It is unclear, however, how the causes of death in these groups vary geographically and across levels of deprivation.
The aim of this project is to explore the changing patterns in causes of death among older adults (≥75 years) in England from 2012 to 2024 and examine their associations with area-level deprivation and other social and environmental determinants of health. This analysis will be undertaken for all deaths; deaths with dementia recorded as the underlying cause; and deaths with dementia recorded on the death certificate.
Period and geography
2012-2024
England and Wales
Data
HES-ONS Linked Mortality; Death registrations
Contact
Project aims
Following a decrease in air pollution in London due to emission reduction policies such as the introduction of the T-charge and the Ultra Low Emission Zone, we will estimate how asthma admissions associated with air pollution in London might have changed since 2016. This is a follow-up from our previous health impact assessment of air pollution on asthma in London conducted in 2019.
Period and geography
2014-2016 & 2017-2019
London
Data
NHS Digital HES England; Inpatient and A&E
Contact
Project aims
Growing policy concerns about health inequalities highlight the importance of examining associations between deprivation and health outcome more comprehensively than has been done to date. We have therefore extended the work done on the Multiple Deprivation study, aiming at quantifying the patterns of major causes of mortality and morbidity in relation to socio-economic factors, such as income, employment and education. We are considering all-cause mortality as well as mortality from specific causes and incidence of specific cancers. The purpose is to quantify the variation in disease rates at small area scale and determine variation by socio-economic factors.
Data
ONS Mortality
ONS Cancer registrations
Contact
Project aims
Aim of this project is to analyse the relationship between environmental exposures, socio-economic characteristics and health in Great Britain and explore temporal trends and spatial patterns in these relationships.
Period and geography
1991-2016
England
Data
Hospital Episode Statistics admitted patient care
ONS mortality including infant mortality
ONS still births
PHE cancer incidence
WCISU cancer incidence and Scottish cancer incidence
Contact
Project aims
The aim of the project is to develop, test and apply statistical methods for estimating both historical and projected trends in total and cause-specific mortality.
Data
ONS Mortality
Contact
Publications
Bennett JE, Li G, Foreman K, Best N, Kontis V, Pearson C, Hambly P, Ezzati M. The future of life expectancy and life expectancy inequalities in England and Wales: Bayesian spatiotemporal forecasting. Lancet April 2015; http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(15)60296-3/abstract
Project aims
We will explore differences in both types of food pipe cancer incidence and mortality by geography (level will be decided by case numbers) by mapping longitudinal trends in incidence and mortality rates in England over a 30 year period (or as long as possible in the data).
We will also describe rates of each type of cancer by population subgroup. We will use a case-control design to explore the variation in risk of each cancer type by environmental factors comparing to cancers not influenced by these factors.
Period and geography
1981 - 2019
England
Data
ONS Cancer registrations - oesophageal cancer
Contact
Project aims
Most small area studies use spatially and temporally detailed population and socio-economic data either as denominator population for calculating rates or risks or as confounder information.
The aims of this project are:
- To update the socio-economic database (e.g. Carstairs index, ethnicity) in light of the decennial census at small area level
- To update and clean the existing SAHSU postcode database which includes annual residential postcodes in Great Britain (currently 1981 – 2019) and to attach the census geographical identifiers
- To explore the impact of the denominator population on rate calculation by exploring the effects of different denominator estimates (a) SAHSU population, b) ONS population) on mortality rates in England between 2001 and 2015 and explore spatial differences by region and Local authority.
Data
ONS mortality
Contact
Project aims
Good research practice involves designing and conducting research studies that are appropriate based on the research questions and hypotheses. For the epidemiological studies that SAHSU undertake, this includes considering whether the analysis will be able to detect a difference in the occurrence of the outcome in individuals or communities who have different levels of exposure to the environmental factors under study, and considering how precise the resulting estimates of the associations between exposures and outcomes will be. These questions are formally assessed through sample size calculations.
Period and geography
Project specific
Data
All project specific
Contact
Project aims
The Greater London Authority launched an Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) in central London in April 2019. This flagship public health intervention is intended to improve air quality (by lowering NO2 and PM), reduce congestion and deliver health benefits. The ULEZ has been extended to Inner London in 2021 and will be further extended to Greater London in 2023. The behavioural changes enforced by the COVID-19 lockdowns and wider responses to the pandemic had major impacts on traffic patterns, air quality and healthcare utilisation since the introduction of the ULEZ. This research will evaluate the health impacts of the ULEZ and the effect of COVID on the ULEZ associated impacts. This project is part of a larger programme of research into the impacts of clean air zones. The proposed epidemiological analysis will:
- describe inequalities in healthcare utilisation during the COVID pandemic in communities within and outside the ULEZ;
- examine trends in non-communicable diseases, pre-and post-ULEZ implementation, using routinely collected health data;
- evaluate exposure-response functions at a very fine geographical resolution, focusing on multimorbidity and deprivation at different time intervals (pre-post pandemic; pre-post ULEZ etc.)
The goal of this research is to provide a comprehensive assessment of the impact of the London ULEZ on health. The results will be disseminated via a range of methods including public events, blogs, presentations, journal articles and direct engagement with practitioners and policy makers.
Geography
England
Data
NHS Digital HES England; Inpatient and A&E; HES-ONS Linked Mortality; Birth and death registrations
Contact
Project Aims
The overall objective of this project is to assess the potential of a public health intervention to reduce geographic and socioeconomic inequalities in dementia incidence in England. This project will focus on herpes zoster vaccination as a case study. The aim of this project is, therefore, to estimate the extent to which geographic and socioeconomic inequalities in dementia incidence in England could be reduced through herpes zoster vaccination.
Data
NHS Digital HES: Admitted patient care and emergency care
ONS mortality data
Contact
Project aims
When broken down by medical causes, one half of the regional differentials in mortality in England are accounted for by Coronary heart disease (CHD). It is however unknown what proportion of the variance in CHD mortality among small area units such as wards or local authorities is due to differences in CHD event rates vs. treatment. Incident CHD, unlike incident cancer or sexually transmitted disease, is not comprehensively recorded in England. While circulatory diseases are the single largest medical cause of death, very little is known about the differences between small areas in event rates or prognosis of CHD. This limits the evaluation of current preventive and health service interventions aimed at reducing CHD incidence and improving survival, especially in the worst-off regions. The HES linked mortality data will then be used in a geographically referenced Bayesian hierarchical model, to derive consistent and comparable quantification of CHD event rates for small areas in England.
Data
ONS Mortality
NHS Digital HES admitted patient care
Contact
Publications
Asaria P, Fortunato L, Fecht D, Tzoulaki I, Abellan JJ, Hambly P, de Hoogh K, Ezzati M, Elliott P. Trends and inequalities in cardiovascular disease mortality across 7932 English electoral wards, 1982-2006: Bayesian spatial analysis. International Journal of Epidemiology 2012; 41(6):1737-1749 http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/41/6/1737
Media
Imperial News: Heart disease map of England highlights growing social inequality in older ages
Richard Horton, Editor-in-Chief, The Lancet, asks people to send the paper to their MP
BBC News: Over-65s heart death gap 'wider' between rich and poor
Hackney Gazette: Hackney one of worst places in country for heart disease
Project aims
The objectives of this project are as follows:
- To develop a spatio-temporal modelling framework for detecting miscarriages using observational data, and assess whether miscarriage rates can be predicted using expected live birth counts and temperature;
- To assess whether extreme temperatures affect miscarriage rates, and detect the presence of a critical window in which the pregnancy is most vulnerable to non-optimal temperatures;
- To investigate whether the relationship between temperature and miscarriages is modified by characteristics of the built environment or changes in magnitude through the long-term trend, suggesting adaptation to exposure.
Geography
England
Data
NHS Digital (HES) Inpatient, HES Accident and Emergency Attendances
HES-ONS Linked Mortality: Live birth registrations; Still birth registrations
Contact
Project aims
To quantify, describe and understand observed patterns in excess mortality at small-area level during the Covid-19 pandemic in England and Italy and other comparator nations.
This study is an extension to the ongoing project 202003/07 Covid-19 Pandemic.
At high spatial resolution and for the duration of the pandemic, we will:
- quantify excess mortality by demographic profiles;
- map excess mortality at high spatial resolution;
- determine the association between area-level factors (demographic, socio-economic, environmental) and excess mortality.
- assess differences between in patterns of excess mortality in the first and the second wave;
- assess differences in the patterns of excess mortality between countries
Period and geography
2015-2019
England
Data
NHS Digital HES England
ONS Civil Registration Data - Death
Contact
Project aims
Incidence rates of kidney cancer in the UK have doubled since the 1990s and it is currently the 7th most commonly diagnosed cancer (n=12,900 cases per year). This temporal trend cannot be fully explained by secular changes in smoking or obesity prevalence. To generate hypotheses on the aetiology of kidney cancer risk, we will apply spatio- temporal epidemiological methods to analyse variability in the incidence of kidney cancer in England.
Period and geography
1981-2019
England
Data
PHE Cancer Registrations
NHS Digital HES England: admitted patient care
ONS Mortality
Contact
Project aims
Air pollution is a major public health concern. It is linked to common non-communicable diseases, including asthma, lung cancer, heart attacks and strokes. Our study will help us understand more about which sources of air pollution are the most harmful to the health of children and the elderly in London. This information will support the design of strategies to control and reduce air pollution that target the most harmful sources.
Air pollution is made up of many different types of substances. In this study will we be focussing on particulate matter, or PM. Particulate matter is a complex mixture of chemically and physically diverse substances that are suspended in the air. Particulates come from man-made and natural sources, for example vehicles, factories, and plants. The mixture of particulate matter that is present in the air, and the concentrations that the particulates are found in, varies across place and time. What is in the mixture depends on the sources of the particulates and factors like weather conditions and other chemicals or biological agents in the air that act on the particles.
In this research project, we will use real-world data on particulate concentrations in the air and advanced statistical modelling techniques to explain how each source of air pollution is contributing to air quality in London. We will then use real-world data from daily hospital admissions for children and elderly residents in London to find out which air pollution sources are having the biggest effect on health. Finally, we will use statistical models to predict how health might change if hypothetical policies are introduced to reduce air pollution from different sources.
The output of our research will support public health decision making on air quality management.
Period and geography
2010 - 2019 London
Data
NHS Digital (HES) Inpatient
Contact
Project aims
This pilot project aims to produce a disease map of deaths by suicide in England over a 25-year period. The insights drawn from this analysis will be used to inform the development of funding bids to explore in more depth the role of climate change and temperature on mental health outcomes.
Period and geography
2000-2024
England and Wales
Data
ONS Mortality
Contact
Project Aims
The UK seeks to reduce carbon emissions to zero by 2050 in line with the Paris Climate Agreement. This project will study the air quality, health and economic benefits of various future climate policy scenarios which would meet this goal and that have support from the public.
The main objectives of the NIHR project from the SAHSU perspective are:
To estimate the UK’s public health and economic burden from air pollution in 2030/40 and 2050 under different 2050 net-zero climate policies.
To quantify to what extent the additional health benefits of UK climate action change the benefit/cost.
To assess how potential benefits vary across the socioeconomic spectrum.
Geography
England Scotland and Wales
Data
PHE Cancer Registrations
WICSU Cancer Registrations
NHS Digital HES: admitted patient care; HES-ONS Linked mortality
ONS Live birth
Contact
Project aims
Brownfield land is increasingly being targeted for housing redevelopment by local government to address the country-wide housing shortage and avoid building on green land to protect the countryside. Brownfield sites refer to land that has been previously used for industrial or commercial purposes but has subsequently become vacant or derelict. Brownfield sites are potentially, but not necessarily, contaminated depending on their previous uses, and might pose potential risks to the health of residents in housing developments either on or in the vicinity of redeveloped sites. Most of the literature on brownfield sites and health focuses on health impact assessments, but epidemiological evidence that investigates the link between brownfield sites and the health of local residents is sparse. In this research project, we will study the potential impacts of living near brownfield sites on health using administrative health data such as information on birth outcomes, hospital admissions and mortality from the Office for National Statistics and NHS Digital. The results of the study will add to the scientific evidence used to inform future housing and public health planning.
The aim of this project is to assess and quantify the associations of living near brownfield sites and adverse health effects.
Geography
England
Data
NHS Digital HES: admitted patient care; ONS Civil Registration Data - Births and Deaths
Contact
PhD Projects
- PhD: A Bayesian spatio-temporal framework of modelling excess mortality at sub-national level
- PhD: Brownfield redevelopment
- PhD: Quantifying the health burden of temperature variation in England and related vulnerabilities – pilot rapid response study
- PhD: Winter Fuel Payments
Project aims
The overarching aim of this project is to develop a general framework for predicting excess mortality at local level in different countries at high temporal resolution (e.g. weeks, months), which can be used as an early warning detection tool. The specific aims are as follows: 1) to develop a model to predict population trends by age, sex, time and spatial region under counterfactual scenarios using historical trends; 2) to link the population prediction to the mortality counts accounting for uncertainty and to estimate the expected deaths during the most recent period (e.g. 1 year) accounting for mortality predictors, historical trends and the population projections from 1); and 3) to examine how covariates contribute to the observed spatio-temporal patterns of excess mortality.
Geograhpy
England
Data
ONS mortality
Contact
Project aims
Brownfield land refers to previously developed land, often in urban areas, that is no longer in use. Across England, brownfield sites are increasing in number and are seen as a key resource for meeting housing demand while protecting green, undeveloped land. Many of these sites, however, were previously used for industrial or commercial purposes and may be contaminated. Their redevelopment offers opportunities to improve local environments and community health. But if poorly planned, it can also lead to unintended consequences such as gentrification, displacement, and deepening social inequalities.
Period and geography
1995-2024
England
Data
NHS Digital HES England: Admitted patient care and Emergency care
ONS Mortality
PHE Cancer Registrations
Contact
Project aims
As climate change increases the frequency and severity of extreme temperatures, it is critical to understand how these events affect people’s health – especially among the most vulnerable. This project will investigate how short-term exposure to hot and cold weather influences the risk of death and hospital admission for illnesses such as heart and lung disease. It will also explore which groups – based on age, sex, deprivation, and access to green space or healthcare – are most at risk.
Period and geography
2002 – 2019
England
Data
NHS Digital HES England: admitted patient care
HES-ONS Linked Mortality
Contact
Project aims
This research explores how monetary subsidies provided by the government can protect vulnerable people’s health from the effects of climate change, particularly during extreme weather events like cold spells. Using the example of the Winter Fuel Payment in England, a cash transfer given to older adults to help with living expenses and heating costs, we aim to understand whether this type of financial support has helped reduce hospital admissions linked to cold exposure.
Period and geography
1997-2025
England
Data
NHS Digital HES England: Admitted patient care and Emergency care
ONS Mortality
Contact
Master's Projects
- MSc/MPH: Evaluating the impact of the UK's 2012 suicide prevention scheme on suicides in England
- MSc/MPH: Exploring the differences between intentional and non-intentional suicides in England
- MSc/MPH: Demographic and geographic patterns in prostate cancer incidence in England
- MSc/MPH: Heatwaves and Mental Health Crisis Risk: Effects on Self harm in England
- MSc/MPH: Demographic and geographic patterns in skin cancer incidence in England
Project aims
The goal of this project is to evaluate the impact of the UK 2012 suicide prevention strategy. The objectives are:
- Use negative outcome controls in an interrupted time series design to draw causal inferences about the associations between the strategy and the occurrence of death by suicide.
- Explore how the impact of the strategy differs by social and environmental factors.
Period and Geography
2000-2023
England
Data
HES-ONS Linked Mortality: Death registrations
Contact
Project aims
The goal of this project is to explore the difference in geographic, environmental and social patterns between deaths from intentional and non-intentional suicides in England. We will:
a. Describe trends in deaths by suicide by intentional and non-intentional categories
b. Explore the role of area-level social and environmental factors in these trends, specifically focussing on geographical differences and interactions between exposures.
Period and geography
2000-2023
England
Data
HES-ONS Linked Mortality: Death registrations
Contact
Project aims
Prostate cancer is the second most common in cancer in men with around 1.5 million new cases globally every year. There are stark inequalities in who develops prostate cancer and who dies from this disease. For example, the incidence of this cancer increases with age and it is almost twice as high in Black men compared to men with other ethnic backgrounds. This project is seeking to understand how the social and physical environments that men live in may influence their risk of prostate cancer. And how these patterns may change over time.
Period and geography
2003 onwards
England
Data
ONS Cancer Registrations
Contact
Project aims
This Masters research project will investigate the relationship between temperature and self harm across England from 2000 to 2024. Using hospitalisation records, the project will assess how short-term increases in temperature influence rates of hospital admissions for self-harm and how this effect varies by region, age, sex, and socio-economic deprivation. Graphical outputs will illustrate geographical differences and changes over time, highlighting areas and populations most at risk.
Period and geography
2000 - 2024
England
Data
NHS Digital HES England: admitted patient care
Contact
Project aims
Melanoma (malignant cancer of the skin) is strongly associated with using commercial tanning beds, especially in younger adults are there are strong calls for this industry to be banned in the UK. Basal and squamous cell (non-malignant) cancers are much more common than melanoma and also associated with excess UV exposure.
Evidence on the cost-effectiveness of a policy to ban commercial sunbeds would be supported by information about the role of this exposure in non-malignant skin cancers, which also require NHS funded health care services and have wider societal costs.
This project is seeking to understand how social and physical environments influence their risk of skin cancers at the community level, and how these patterns may change over time.
Period and geography
2003 onwards
England
Data
ONS Cancer Registrations
Contact