West London Healthy Home and Environment (WellHome) Study: Protocol for a Community-Based Study Investigating Exposures Across the Indoor-Outdoor Air Pollution Continuum in Urban Communities.

The relationship between indoor air quality and public health remains under-researched. WellHome is a transdisciplinary community-based study that will engage with residents to co-design feasible and acceptable research to quantify air pollution exposure in 100 homes in West London and examine its potential to exacerbate asthma symptoms in children. Sampling strategies such as using air quality monitors and passive samplers placed in kitchens, children's bedrooms, and living rooms, will be developed in collaboration with local ambassadors and participating households to measure multiple physical, chemical, microplastic, and biological contaminants.

Health and associated economic benefits of reduced air pollution and increased physical activity from climate change policies in the UK.

Climate change policies do not always include analysis of air quality and physical activity co-benefits. We compared business as usual (BAU) UK policy with Net Zero scenarios from the UK Climate Change Committee for road transport and building sectors. We quantified and monetised the health benefits of the Balanced Net Zero (BNZP) and Widespread Innovation (WI) Pathways.

Personalised estimation of exposure to ambient air pollution and application in a longitudinal cohort analysis of cognitive function in London-dwelling older adults.

Background: Accurate estimates of personal exposure to ambient air pollution are difficult to obtain and epidemiological studies generally rely on residence-based estimates, averaged spatially and temporally, derived from monitoring networks or models. Few epidemiological studies have compared the associated health effects of personal exposure and residence-based estimates.

Objective: To evaluate the association between exposure to air pollution and cognitive function using exposure estimates taking mobility and location into account.

What Impact Does Net Zero Action on Road Transport and Building Heating Have on Exposure to UK Air Pollution?

This study explores the cobenefits of reduced nitrogen dioxide (NO), ozone (O), and particulate matter (PM), through net zero (NZ) climate policy in the UK. Two alternative NZ scenarios, the balanced net zero (BNZP) and widespread innovation (WI) pathways, from the UK Climate Change Committee's Sixth Carbon Budget, were examined using a chemical transport model (CTM). Under the UK existing policy, Business as Usual (BAU), reductions in NO and PM were predicted by 2030 due to new vehicle technologies but plateau by 2040.

Climate change policies reduce air pollution and increase physical activity: Benefits, costs, inequalities, and indoor exposures.

The burden of diseases attributable to air pollution is comparable to those of global health risks such as unhealthy diets and tobacco smoking, with many air pollution sources also emitting climate heating gases. In this UK study we estimated the co-benefits of Net Zero (NZ) climate policy on the health benefits of air pollution reduction, increased active travel, outdoor exposure inequalities and indoor air pollution changes. The study focused on two of the largest UK sources, road transport and building heating, with comparisons made between NZ and UK existing policy, referred to as Business as Usual (BAU).

Air pollution, traffic noise, mental health, and cognitive development: A multi-exposure longitudinal study of London adolescents in the SCAMP cohort.

Background: There is increasing evidence that air pollution and noise may have detrimental psychological impacts, but there are few studies evaluating adolescents, ground-level ozone exposure, multi-exposure models, or metrics beyond outdoor residential exposure. This study aimed to address these gaps.

Methods: Annual air pollution and traffic noise exposure at home and school were modelled for adolescents in the Greater London SCAMP cohort (N=7555).

Children's Health in London and Luton (CHILL) cohort: a 12-month natural experimental study of the effects of the Ultra Low Emission Zone on children's travel to school.

Background: The Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), introduced in Central London in April 2019, aims to enhance air quality and improve public health. The Children's Health in London and Luton (CHILL) study evaluates the impact of the ULEZ on children's health. This analysis focuses on the one-year impacts on the shift towards active travel to school.

The longitudinal associations between ambient air pollution exposure and dementia in the UK: results from the cognitive function and ageing study II and Wales.

Background: Air pollution has been recognised as a potential risk factor for dementia. Yet recent epidemiological research shows mixed evidence. The aim of this study is to investigate the longitudinal associations between ambient air pollution exposure and dementia in older people across five urban and rural areas in the UK.

Short-Term Nitrogen Dioxide Exposure and Emergency Hospital Admissions for Asthma in Children: A Case-Crossover Analysis in England.

Background: There is an increasing body of evidence associating short-term ambient nitrogen dioxide (NO) exposure with asthma-related hospital admissions in children. However, most studies have relied on temporally resolved exposure information, potentially ignoring the spatial variability of NO. We aimed to investigate how daily NO estimates from a highly resolved spatio-temporal model are associated with the risk of emergency hospital admission for asthma in children in England.

Exposure to ambient air pollution and cognitive function: an analysis of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing cohort.

Background: An increasing number of studies suggest adverse effects of exposure to ambient air pollution on cognitive function, but the evidence is still limited. We investigated the associations between long-term exposure to air pollutants and cognitive function in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) cohort of older adults.

Methods: Our sample included 8,883 individuals from ELSA, based on a nationally representative study of people aged ≥ 50 years, followed-up from 2002 until 2017.

Could the association between ozone and arterial stiffness be modified by fish oil supplementation?

Background: Arterial stiffness (AS) is an important predicting factor for cardiovascular disease. However, no epidemiological studies have ever explored the mediating role of biomarkers in the association between ozone and AS, nor weather fish oil modified such association.

Methods: Study participants were drawn from the UK biobank, and a total of 95,699 middle-aged and older adults were included in this study.

Long-term ambient ozone, omega-3 fatty acid, genetic susceptibility, and risk of mental disorders among middle-aged and older adults in UK biobank.

Background: Evidence linking ozone to depression and anxiety disorders remains sparse and results are heterogeneous. It remains unknown whether omega-3 fatty acid, or genetic susceptibility of mental disorders modify the impacts of ozone. The aim is to assess the associations of ambient ozone with depression and anxiety, and further explore the potential modification effects of omega-3 fatty acid and genetic susceptibility.

Can the UK meet the World Health Organization PM interim target of 10 μg m by 2030?

The recent United Kingdom (UK) Environment Act consultation had the intention of setting two targets for PM (particles with an aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 μm), one related to meeting an annual average concentration and the second to reducing population exposure. As part of the consultation, predictions of PM concentrations in 2030 were made by combining European Union (EU) and UK government's emissions forecasts, with the Climate Change Committee's (CCC) Net Zero vehicle forecasts, and in London with the addition of local policies based on the London Environment Strategy (LES).

Quantifying the change of brake wear particulate matter emissions through powertrain electrification in passenger vehicles.

With vehicle fleets transitioning from internal combustion engines (ICE) to electric powertrains, we have used friction brake power simulations, for different vehicle classes and driving styles, to predict the impact of regenerative braking systems (RBS) on brake wear particulate matter emissions (PM and PM). Under the same powertrain, subcompact (SC) vehicles were predicted to require between 38 and 68% less friction brake power than heavier sports utility vehicles (L-SUV). However, despite electric and hybrid vehicles being heavier than ICE vehicles, the results show that RBS would reduce brake wear by between 64 and 95%.

Associations between air pollution and mental health service use in dementia: a retrospective cohort study.

Background: Little is known about the role of air pollution in how people with dementia use mental health services.

Objective: We examined longitudinal associations between air pollution exposure and mental health service use in people with dementia.

Methods: In 5024 people aged 65 years or older with dementia in South London, high resolution estimates of nitrogen dioxide (NO) and particulate matter (PM and PM) levels in ambient air were linked to residential addresses.

Device-Measured Change in Physical Activity in Primary School Children During the UK COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown: A Longitudinal Study.

Background: Lockdown measures, including school closures, due to the COVID-19 pandemic have caused widespread disruption to children's lives. The aim of this study was to explore the impact of a national lockdown on children's physical activity using seasonally matched accelerometry data.

Methods: Using a pre/post observational design, 179 children aged 8 to 11 years provided physical activity data measured using hip-worn triaxial accelerometers worn for 5 consecutive days prepandemic and during the January to March 2021 lockdown.

Prenatal exposure to air pollution is associated with structural changes in the neonatal brain.

Background: Prenatal exposure to air pollution is associated with adverse neurologic consequences in childhood. However, the relationship between in utero exposure to air pollution and neonatal brain development is unclear.

Methods: We modelled maternal exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO) and particulate matter (PM and PM) at postcode level between date of conception to date of birth and studied the effect of prenatal air pollution exposure on neonatal brain morphology in 469 (207 male) healthy neonates, with gestational age of ≥36 weeks.

Associations between air pollutants and blood pressure in an ethnically diverse cohort of adolescents in London, England.

Longitudinal evidence on the association between air pollution and blood pressure (BP) in adolescence is scarce. We explored this association in an ethnically diverse cohort of schoolchildren. Sex-stratified, linear random-effects modelling was used to examine how modelled residential exposure to annual average nitrogen dioxide (NO2), particulate matter (PM2.

Exposure to Ambient Air Pollution and the Incidence of Dementia in the Elderly of England: The ELSA Cohort.

Increasing evidence suggests an adverse association between ambient air pollution and the incidence of dementia in adult populations, although results at present are mixed and further work is required. The present study investigated the relationships between NO, PM, PM and ozone on dementia incidence in a cohort of English residents, aged 50 years and older, followed up between 2004 and 2017 (English Longitudinal Study of Ageing; = 8525). Cox proportional hazards models were applied to investigate the association between time to incident dementia and exposure to pollutants at baseline.

Towards healthy school neighbourhoods: A baseline analysis in Greater London.

Creating healthy environments around schools is important to promote healthy childhood development and is a critical component of public health. In this paper we present a tool to characterize exposure to multiple urban environment features within 400 m (5-10 min walking distance) of schools in Greater London. We modelled joint exposure to air pollution (NO and PM), access to public greenspace, food environment, and road safety for 2,929 schools, employing a Bayesian non-parametric approach based on the Dirichlet Process Mixture modelling.

Development and Evaluation of Spatio-Temporal Air Pollution Exposure Models and Their Combinations in the Greater London Area, UK.

Land use regression (LUR) and dispersion/chemical transport models (D/CTMs) are frequently applied to predict exposure to air pollution concentrations at a fine scale for use in epidemiological studies. Moreover, the use of satellite aerosol optical depth data has been a key predictor especially for particulate matter pollution and when studying large populations. Within the STEAM project we present a hybrid spatio-temporal modeling framework by (a) incorporating predictions from dispersion modeling of nitrogen dioxide (NO), ozone (O) and particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter equal or less than 10 μm (PM10) and less than 2.

Association between air pollution exposure and mental health service use among individuals with first presentations of psychotic and mood disorders: retrospective cohort study.

Background: Growing evidence suggests that air pollution exposure may adversely affect the brain and increase risk for psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and depression. However, little is known about the potential role of air pollution in severity and relapse following illness onset.

Aims: To examine the longitudinal association between residential air pollution exposure and mental health service use (an indicator of illness severity and relapse) among individuals with first presentations of psychotic and mood disorders.