Edentulism may contribute to functional disability in older adults, yet cross-national evidence combining multiple analytic strategies and mechanistic assessment remains limited. This study examined the association between edentulism and disability in activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) across England, the United States, and India. We analyzed harmonized data from the English Longitudinal…
The National Health Service (NHS) faces environmental and financial pressures linked to the widespread use of single-use medical devices. Transitioning to reusable alternatives presents an opportunity to reduce waste, carbon emissions, and long-term costs while maintaining clinical outcomes. This study examined the readiness of NHS Trusts and Health Boards across England and Wales, United Kingdom, to adopt high-priority reusable…
PLOS Sustainability and Transformation · Carrie D. Llewellyn, Anya Robinson et al.
British Armed Forces families raising neurodivergent children must coordinate health, education, welfare and informal support within a service context characterised by mobility and deployment. This study examined how families understood, accessed and sustained support, and how these processes shaped caregiving and family life. Twelve parents and caregivers of children aged 3–17 years with diagnosed or suspected neurodevelopmental…
Background: Effective community surveillance of respiratory diseases relies on the timely collection and analysis of high quality clinical and virology data. The aim was to develop interactive dashboards for general practice, public health, and researcher groups. This would improve the visualisation, utilisation, and quality of virology data from an English sentinel network, support disease trend monitoring, early outbreak response, and…
Much has been written about the animal economy of medieval England (CE 450–1500) but interpretation of the zooarchaeological record has been held back by reliance on artificial periodisation. This study reduces that reliance via a novel approach to data synthesis. A substantial zooarchaeological dataset compiled for the ‘Feeding Anglo-Saxon England’ project was investigated allowing a more detailed understanding of when change took…
Accurately mapping environmental and social inequalities at fine spatial scales is critical for urban policy, yet the data required are often costly and infrequently updated. Vision foundation models can extract information directly from satellite imagery, offering a rapid and scalable alternative. We compare three modelling pipelines for predicting two contrasting indicators of urban inequality – air pollution and house prices – across…
PLOS One · Barbara Metzler, Martin Fleischmann et al.
Background: Within the UK, more than a million people cannot speak English well or at all. The lack of data on English proficiency means that the link between English proficiency and health status and care utilisation is not comprehensively quantified. Objective: Describe the association between English proficiency and patients’ health status and healthcare utilisation, and demonstrate that GP data can be useful in understanding the…
Research regularly reports lower mortality among migrants, leading to conclusions of a “Healthy Immigrant Effect”. However, evidence on migrant health is less consistent, suggesting a disconnect between mortality and health outcomes. This highlights the need to examine both health and mortality simultaneously rather than relying on single-outcome measures. We estimate life expectancy (LE) and disability-free life expectancy (DFLE) at…
Background: Adults with intellectual disabilities experience significantly worse health outcomes and die younger than people without intellectual disability. People with severe or profound intellectual disability have particularly complex health needs. However, no large-scale population-based studies have specifically examined mortality patterns and factors associated with age at death in this group. Methods and findings: This…
PLOS Medicine · Michael Kwan Leung Yu, Rory Sheehan et al.
Background: Cross-country comparisons can provide valuable insights into the societal and policy contexts that shape socioeconomic inequalities in ageing. However, longitudinal comparative research in this area is scarce. We therefore examined associations between socioeconomic conditions and functional ageing trajectories in a longitudinal comparison between England and Canada. Methods and findings: In this longitudinal cohort study,…
PLOS Medicine · Stephanie Schrempft, Shelby Vereecke et al.
Background: Epidemic forecasting research often assesses ensembles and their component models using probabilistic scoring rules. Quantifying how individual models affect ensemble performance is challenging, particularly across multiple targets and spatial scales. Methods: We present Winter 2024–25 forecasts of Influenza and COVID-19 hospital admissions in England and conduct a retrospective simulation using the operational component…
PLOS Computational Biology · Jack Kennedy, William Ferguson et al.
Objectives: Adult obesity prevalence exhibits significant spatial disparities across England. While traditional global regression models often overlook local variations, it is unclear whether these relationships vary spatially or remain stable. This study aims to robustly identify determinants of clinical obesity and test for spatial non-stationarity using best-practice diagnostics. Methods: Using 2023/24 data from 151 Upper Tier Local…