Category: Uncategorised

Insights for healthy ageing: trends in dementia-related mortality

At the SAHSU Environment and Health Coffee Morning in April, Dr Angela Pinot de Moira shared her early-stage research on how people with dementia die.

Although dementia is now the leading cause of death in England, many people with the condition die from other causes such as heart disease or pneumonia. Angela’s research looks at which health conditions contribute to deaths in people with dementia and how these patterns vary across England. She hopes this will help identify who is most at risk of dementia and what other factors might influence that risk.

During the coffee morning, Angela hosted three 25-minute table discussions with small groups of attendees, representing a mix of ages and genders. As this is a sensitive topic and her research is still in its early stages, she was particularly interested in how to communicate her research to the public. She wanted to explore: How do people feel about talking about death? What language is best to use? How much do people know about how deaths are recorded and used in research?

Instead of the usual academic slides, Angela used a short written summary and an example map to explain her project. The format was surprisingly effective: participants were engaged, willing to share personal stories and contributed thoughtful insights. Angela also shared some of her own experience, as her mother lived with dementia.

Participants generally preferred clear terms like “death” or “mortality” over euphemisms like “passing” or “losing someone,” which they found vague or unhelpful. They also felt that terms like “end-of-life” could sound alarming. There was general agreement on the need for more open conversations about death and dying.

Some people shared their experience with death certificates, noting that dementia is often not recorded, depending on the immediate cause of death. This raised questions about how much information is captured on official records.

The event has helped Angela feel more confident about speaking about death and dementia with the public, and what language to use. The level of interest and the stories shared were very motivating. Building on these discussions, Angela hopes to explore new ways to involve participants, perhaps through co-authored summaries of her research findings.

Using personal health monitors in research

As part of the SAHSU Environment and Health Coffee Morning held on 4th April, Dr Brandon Parkes hosted 3 discussion groups concerning possible funding application to develop a smartphone app to assist medical research by automating the collection of health data, symptoms and co-morbidities. Brandon was interested to hear from people of varying ages (and technical abilities) how open they would be to using the proposed app and taking ownership of their health records.

The feedback was informative and mixed as would be expected from a diverse set of attendees ranging in age from mid-twenties to eighties. A lot of those present were using or had used devices that collected biometric data (step counts, sleep data etc). There was some cynicism as to the accuracy and reliability of the devices. It was also paramount that the devices were designed to be sleek and unobtrusive. Younger members in particular were open to the idea of sharing their data if it meant they were given a new piece of technology such as a smart watch.

Brandon had introduced the concept of individuals storing their medical data in the form of electronic health records on their devices but found little enthusiasm for this; it was often felt that doctors should take responsibility for their patients’ records, and that the individual wouldn’t necessarily understand the contents of the medical records.

Both attendees and hosts appeared to enjoy the event, and the time seemed to pass quickly. For a research project like the one proposed here, that is aimed at the general public, it is beneficial to involve as diverse a section of the community as possible; I believe the format of this event delivered on that.

Brownfield Land and Health: What the Public Thinks

In April 2025, Dr Weiyi Wang, a Research Associate at SAHSU, hosted a table at the SAHSU Environment and Health Coffee Morning to share her research on the health impacts of brownfield land – previously developed land that is now vacant or unused.

Although most attendees were unfamiliar with the term “brownfield”, they quickly connected with the topic once it was explained. When asked what kinds of redevelopment they would like to see on such land, there was a clear preference for projects that benefit the community, such as playgrounds, parks, and leisure centres, over high-rise housing. Many expressed concerns that densely built flats could lead to overcrowding and offer little support for residents’ physical or mental wellbeing.

Participants also voiced worries about pollution, safety, and the psychological effects of living near derelict or poorly regenerated brownfield sites. These perspectives echoed some of the broader themes in this research.

One of the more challenging aspects of the session was communicating a surprising finding from the study: people living in areas with higher contamination hazard appeared to have lower rates of hospital admission for respiratory or cardiovascular diseases. Weiyi clarified that this was a correlation, not evidence of a causal link, and outlined possible interpretations – such as the impact of urban regeneration or limitations in the study design. Attendees responded thoughtfully, asking insightful questions that reflected a genuine interest and critical engagement with the research.

Public Health Impact of Clean Air Zone (PHICAZ)

Event 1:

We are working on a five-year program of research to explore the impacts on health of clean air zones, including the London Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), which are interventions that are trying to reduce traffic-related air pollution.

Our project team is working with the local community to raise awareness of our research and to ensure that the way that we communicate the findings of our research will be useful for the public.

In July 2023, Dr Rosemary Chamberlain (then a third-year PhD student), hosted a Public Involvement and Engagement event at the Imperial College Invention Room, White City Campus, supported by her PhD supervisors Dr Bethan Davies and Dr Daniela Fecht.

Rosemary led a discussion with six members of the local community to explore people’s perspectives on research into the impacts of the London Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) on health and hear about how to clearly communicate our findings to the public.

Rosemary presented (PHICAZ Focus group slides) an overview of the impacts of traffic-related air pollution on health and then set out what she was investigating in her research project.  Rosemary answered questions from the participants and together they explored how the results of the research project should be presented for effective communication with the public.

 

Event 2:

Building on the activity in July, Dr Oluwaseyi Arowosegbe, a research associate on the PHICAZ project, undertook a focused discussion with people from the Open Age group, a charity that works to help older people (50 years and above) living around Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster and Hammersmith and Fulham areas of London to sustain their physical and mental fitness, maintain an active lifestyle and develop new and stimulating interests.

This event was held virtually in December 2023 to raise awareness on how the PHICAZ project is using health and environmental health data to assess the health impact of clean air zone intervention on the population of London. Fourteen members of the group attended the meeting, the members were interested in the findings of the project, especially for their age group (50 years and above).

The group requested a follow-up meeting to discuss the results of the PHICAZ project when they are out. They also volunteered to help design science communication of the results for the population.

Event 3:

The PHICAZ project was part of the 2024 Imperial College Great Exhibition Road Festival from 15th – 16th June 2024. Dr Oluwaseyi Arowosegbe and Dr Bethan Davies designed an activity to engage with the children about the new London Ultra Low Emission Zones (ULEZ) policy and its impact on population health and the environment.

During the two-day event, the children were curious about why an “old non-ULEZ complaint car” would be fined while driving around the streets of London. Several of the children (mostly aged 5 years and above) told us the activity helped them to understand why their parents had recently changed their old car for a more climate/health-friendly car.  About 50, 000 visitors attended the festival and almost two-thirds of people were with children.

Event 4:

In our continued aim to engage diverse London residents on the aim of PHICAZ project, Dr Chang Cai joined the Imperial Patient Experience Research Centre (PERC) at the ‘Community Involvement in Research Event’ at West Acton Community Centre, Ealing, for parents and carers on 10th October 2024. The event was a pop-up informal café where community members could join sessions of their choice from a “menu” of various research projects. Hot drinks and lunch were provided. It was co-designed and co-delivered with community leaders and invited community members.

Before the event, we collaborated with community partners/leaders and the PERC team to refine our questions to the public through three iterations to ensure the questions were relevant and easy to understand.

On the day, Chang undertook four 30-minute sessions with 3-6 community members, assisted by a community partner. She introduced herself and the researcher team and invited community members to introduce themselves too. After briefly describing our research programme, Chang led a discussion of the three prepared questions regarding how the ULEZ has affected the local environment and the participant’s daily lives and how they would like to be communicated about our research.

Most of the attendees were aware of the ULEZ and the links between air pollution and respiratory health. There was generally less awareness that air quality is associated with birth outcomes. People raised questions about how our research could separate the health impacts of the ULEZ from other potential explanations, such as Covid-19 and other policies that target ambient and indoor air pollution. Chang explained that these factors will be addressed in our analysis and the interpretation of the results. Some participants reported that they have observed a notable change in local traffic and air quality at the boundary of the ULEZ. They were curious if the ULEZ has had a distinct impact on the health of residents living at the boundary compared to those living within the ULEZ but further away from the boundary. This is an important question that the research team is aiming to address in our work.

A key outcome from this event was the importance of sharing our research findings in a range of languages spoken locally to make sure that information on air pollution and its health impacts reaches a wider range of audiences.