Background: The proposed study is aligned with the ongoing ADR ‘OCCUMEN Study’ which examines the prevalence and correlates of mental disorders (MDs) across occupational categories. This related study will examine sex-specific temporal trends in mental disorders and causes of death across occupation types before and following the onset of the Covid-19 (C-19) pandemic and examine associations with family responsibilities. Aim: We will examine the C-19 mental health impact on people within specific occupational groups, with...

Older people are at high risk for Covid-19 and may have been impacted (and psychologically distressed) by the quarantine - entailing disconnection from family, community and usual health, social support and planned treatments. These may be amplified for people in rural areas where services are limited and both transport and digital-based communication services relatively poor. These issues may be more challenging for people living with dementia, generally associated with ageing, functional decline (Melis et al.,...

The unique circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic poses formidable health, economic and social challenges for governments around the world. The impact of the coronavirus varies both between and within countries due to unique coronavirus risk factor profiles, transmission patterns within populations and different approaches used by governments to combat the spread of the virus. In the early stages of the pandemic, despite having the lowest Covid-19 age-standardised mortality rate (ASMR) in the UK (March and...

Health is a major component of wellbeing. It is difficult to be fully participant in family and community life, to work to one’s potential and to enjoy life, without good health. According to the 2019 Annual Report on Health Inequalities (Department of Health, 2019), in Northern Ireland, there is a 7.1 year difference in life expectancy between men living in the most and least deprived areas. Healthy life expectancy declined for all individuals between 2011-13...

Self-Harm (SH) and suicide ideation (SI) (i.e. thoughts about dying by suicide) are two of the most important known risk factors for death by suicide. Increasing suicide rates are a major public health concern and Northern Ireland (NI) consistently has the highest rate of suicide in the UK and Ireland. Recent nationwide policies to reduce suicide are now including a focus on reducing SH and SI as these are precursors to suicide. However, little is...

Modern society is changing the way we live, work and relate to each other. Digitalization is eliminating the need for everyday social interactions and consequently, issues such as social isolation and loneliness are becoming pressing public health problems. Older adults are particularly susceptible to social isolation due to a number of factors such as retirement, bereavement, loss of social contacts, declining health conditions, and other age-related major life transitions. Adverse health effects of social isolation...

This project is the first part of an analysis which will examine changes in cause-specific mortality between the 2001 and 2011 Censuses. We propose using (1) the NIMS databases to compare directly standardised cause-specific mortality rates between 2001-2006 and 2011-2016 (or to the latest mortality download); then, in a related study (to follow), (2) the NILS databases to analyse this mortality in relation to between-census transitions in contextual factors.

This study will examine morbidity, mortality, and migration between 1991, 2001, and 2011. Using individual and area level data from the NILS, I plan to compare census derived variables and health outcomes of agricultural workers against other distinct occupations. This study’s target audience will be farmers from different farming sectors and by extension their farming families. This study will analyse sub-groups of agricultural workers, their health circumstances, death rates, and migration trends against other detailed...

Multi-morbidity is becoming an increasingly pertinent public health issue and challenge, given advancement of research, policy and treatment and an ageing population. One of the consequences of increased life expectancy is increased risk of accumulation of multiple disorders, with the prevalence of multi-morbidity thought to be in excess of 65% of the elderly population (Banjaree, 2015). While multi-morbidity is more prevalent at older ages, in absolute terms over half of multi-morbid cases are aged under...

There is a long history in both epidemiology and public health of studying the health and mortality risk of doctors, and the proposed study aims to continue this trend. This history includes the famous ‘Doctors Study’ (with Doll, Bradford-Hill and Peto) which ran from 1951 until 2001 and provided some of the original and most conclusive evidence linking cigarette smoking and lung cancer (and later heart disease and stroke).