Thesis Title: Impact of Individual and Community-Level Deprivation on Cold Spells and Respiratory Health: A Nationwide Study
Abstract: Climate change poses a serious threat to human health, emphasizing the need to understand social vulnerability, particularly deprivation, in implementing effective adaptation strategies. Despite chronic respiratory diseases affecting 454.6 million people globally, current research often focuses on the respiratory health and extremely hot temperature, overlooking the impact of extreme cold exposure. Prior studies have mainly explored sociodemographic indicators, leaving dimensions like housing and community facilities understudied. In addition to considering deprivation indicators such as age, sex, education, and occupation, my proposed research aims to address this gap comprehensively. It will assess various deprivation indicators, including housing and neighborhood characteristics (such as access to health facilities, proportion of home central heating, average age of buildings, household deprivation), and urbaneness(urbanicity and population density) in the context of cold spells and respiratory health. By examining individual and community-level factors, I aim to uncover the short-term effects of cold spells on respiratory health and understand how deprivation influences this impact. This research addresses acritical gap in understanding spatial and temporal patterns, helping identify vulnerable populations and providing valuable insights for targeted intervention strategies
Primary Supervisor: Prof. Marta Blangiardo
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