The Airwave Health Monitoring Study (AHMS). An Occupational Cohort Study of the British Police Forces.
Lead Research Organisation:
Imperial College London
Department Name: School of Public Health
Abstract
Police officers are among one of the occupational groups presenting with higher rates of ill health compared to other workers and are exposed to a wide range of chemical, physical and psychosocial risk factors that can affect their health and performance at work. This raises questions about how the risk factors they face at work affects their performance and ultimately their wellbeing and safety, as well as the safety of the public. Recent staff surveys and literature have indicated that mental health issues, such as anxiety and depression, are also a particular concern. Understanding these hazards and risks to police officer health and putting tailored safety and health promotion measures in place is an obvious solution. However, there is a lack of detailed information on the specific factors involved and the how these, individually or in combination, affect health. It is also likely that health outcomes vary according to workplace factors (e.g. region, rank, hours worked) but also vary according to individual make-up and sociodemographic characteristics. Therefore, understanding and quantifying risk factors to police officer health may impact on the health and wellbeing of the individual, their colleagues and families as well as on the health of the public.
The Airwave Health Monitoring Study (AHMS) was established to evaluate possible health risks associated with the use of the digital communication system used by the police forces and other emergency services. It is a large (over 50,000 participants) long-term study investigating the health of police officers and staff across Great Britain. Currently, follow-up measures are being undertaken in England only. Our objectives are both to extend the follow-up of the AHMS to Scotland and Wales, and to provide a resource for studying how gender, lifestyle, and occupational exposures interact with genetic and metabolic factors in relation to physical and mental health, in a comparatively young working population with a high representation of men.
Specifically we plan to:
i) follow-up the Scottish and Welsh AHMS participants who attended a baseline clinical assessment (N = 13,681) approximately 7.5 years later;
ii) develop a method to estimate exposures to a range of chemical, physical and psychosocial risk factors to health by combining group level data through a bespoke Job Exposure Matrix (JEM) and individual level data to refine and evaluate JEM performance.
iii) use mental health as an exemplar case study to examine the relationships between work-related risk factors and mental health difficulties, and identify the individual and/or workplace 'protective' factors that promote wellbeing within the workplace.
Our proposal has high policy relevance at the level of both government and employers. It represents a novel, cross-sectoral collaboration between academics across five UK leading universities and in partnership with police forces and the Police Federation (representing rank and file officers) across Great Britain. The application has wide support from our stakeholders who have been included in the project from the outset in order to ensure that the findings are translated into interventions that impact on health and wellbeing.
The Airwave Health Monitoring Study (AHMS) was established to evaluate possible health risks associated with the use of the digital communication system used by the police forces and other emergency services. It is a large (over 50,000 participants) long-term study investigating the health of police officers and staff across Great Britain. Currently, follow-up measures are being undertaken in England only. Our objectives are both to extend the follow-up of the AHMS to Scotland and Wales, and to provide a resource for studying how gender, lifestyle, and occupational exposures interact with genetic and metabolic factors in relation to physical and mental health, in a comparatively young working population with a high representation of men.
Specifically we plan to:
i) follow-up the Scottish and Welsh AHMS participants who attended a baseline clinical assessment (N = 13,681) approximately 7.5 years later;
ii) develop a method to estimate exposures to a range of chemical, physical and psychosocial risk factors to health by combining group level data through a bespoke Job Exposure Matrix (JEM) and individual level data to refine and evaluate JEM performance.
iii) use mental health as an exemplar case study to examine the relationships between work-related risk factors and mental health difficulties, and identify the individual and/or workplace 'protective' factors that promote wellbeing within the workplace.
Our proposal has high policy relevance at the level of both government and employers. It represents a novel, cross-sectoral collaboration between academics across five UK leading universities and in partnership with police forces and the Police Federation (representing rank and file officers) across Great Britain. The application has wide support from our stakeholders who have been included in the project from the outset in order to ensure that the findings are translated into interventions that impact on health and wellbeing.
Technical Summary
The Airwave Health Monitoring Study (AHMS) is a long-term cohort study of the health of police officers and staff across Great Britain. With funding from Home Office (ends March 2018), it has recruited 53,280 individuals of whom 45,533 have had clinical and biological measurements collected as part of a baseline clinical assessment, with data linkage of the cohort to routine NHS records. The aim of the current proposal is to greatly augment the AHMS cohort through further face-to-face clinical follow-up in Scotland and Wales (follow-up in England is funded separately), and to provide a resource for studying how gender, lifestyle, and occupational exposures interact with genetic and metabolic factors in relation to physical and mental health. We will do this via: i) follow-up assessment at c. 7.5 years of Scottish and Welsh Airwave participants (N = 13,681) aiming for 40% participation rate based on extensive pilot studies; ii) development of a methodology for obtaining estimates of exposure to a range of chemical, physical and psychosocial risk factors that may be associated with chronic disease or reduced health and wellbeing, using a combination of estimates on group level through development of bespoke Job Exposure Matrices (JEMs), with self-reported and objective individual exposure measures (e.g. from analyses of available computerised records from the police TETRA radio system, which informs on individual shift work patterns); and iii) an exemplar case study to examine the reciprocal relationships between operational and organisational risk factors and mental health difficulties, and identify what factors promote resilience within the workplace. This proposal if funded will provide a unique resource for research on occupational health among a 'front-line' public-facing service and provide the evidence-base for interventions to improve health and well-being among the workforce.
Planned Impact
The Airwave Health monitoring study (AHMS) is the only large-scale cohort study of police employees worldwide. It includes a group of younger men aged under 40 who are under-represented in the UK research portfolio. As it has proven difficult to interest this group in primary prevention and there is only limited routine contact with primary care, engaging with this demographic group helps fill a gap and boosts the value and impact of UK population cohorts as a whole.
Development of a set of Job Exposure Matrices (JEMs) to obtain greater understanding of workplace exposures experienced by Police Force employees would have wider applicability to other 'front-line' occupations, and would strengthen UK capability in this area of research.
The cohort has been richly phenotyped, flagged to routine records, and provides an excellent, unique resource to study the genetic, metabolic, occupational and lifestyle factors associated with physical and mental health, including cognitive performance, among a predominantly male and young adult workforce with a well-defined organisational hierarchy. Whilst the particular focus of the AHMS is the police force and related staff, the questions that can be asked of the resource can yield answers that are generalizable to workers in other occupational groups, especially those required to deal with stressful situations in high-demand, shift-based, structured work environments (e.g. health service, prison and fire services). The results therefore could have important impact on the working practices, and mental and physical health, of workers in a range of 'public facing' occupations.
The proposed research will address a number of areas and domains, where the findings could have important implications for working practice and lead to possible work-place interventions:
a. Studying how gender, lifestyle, and occupational exposures interact with genetic and metabolic factors in relation to the development of physical and mental health issues, will contribute to better understanding of risk factors for poor health, and possible remediation approaches
b. Gaining greater awareness of social differentials between job assignments and the impact of stress and job strain on health could have direct impact on day-to-day working arrangements, as well as the consequence of highly stressful events and shift working patterns
c. Absence from work through sickness constitutes a huge economic burden for the UK Police Force, and contributes to the poor productivity of the UK workforce in general. The AHMS has collected sickness absence records from participating police forces, and linked those data with clinical, lifestyle, genetic and metabolic information on a large sample of Police Force employees. Using this resource, the AHMS offers unique opportunity to gain much greater understanding of the drivers of absenteeism in the Police Force, with potential for substantial health and economic benefit if even a small downward shift in numbers of days absent could be achieved. By identifying and remediating the drivers of the large degree of absenteeism through sickness, there is potential to develop successful interventions targeting the most important modifiable determinants.
d. The AHMS participants have consented to recall into studies by genotype and/or phenotype. The cohort could become a rich source of participants for trials of behavioural and other interventions on mental health and other outcomes, potentially leading to new or improved treatments for these conditions in a work-place setting.
Development of a set of Job Exposure Matrices (JEMs) to obtain greater understanding of workplace exposures experienced by Police Force employees would have wider applicability to other 'front-line' occupations, and would strengthen UK capability in this area of research.
The cohort has been richly phenotyped, flagged to routine records, and provides an excellent, unique resource to study the genetic, metabolic, occupational and lifestyle factors associated with physical and mental health, including cognitive performance, among a predominantly male and young adult workforce with a well-defined organisational hierarchy. Whilst the particular focus of the AHMS is the police force and related staff, the questions that can be asked of the resource can yield answers that are generalizable to workers in other occupational groups, especially those required to deal with stressful situations in high-demand, shift-based, structured work environments (e.g. health service, prison and fire services). The results therefore could have important impact on the working practices, and mental and physical health, of workers in a range of 'public facing' occupations.
The proposed research will address a number of areas and domains, where the findings could have important implications for working practice and lead to possible work-place interventions:
a. Studying how gender, lifestyle, and occupational exposures interact with genetic and metabolic factors in relation to the development of physical and mental health issues, will contribute to better understanding of risk factors for poor health, and possible remediation approaches
b. Gaining greater awareness of social differentials between job assignments and the impact of stress and job strain on health could have direct impact on day-to-day working arrangements, as well as the consequence of highly stressful events and shift working patterns
c. Absence from work through sickness constitutes a huge economic burden for the UK Police Force, and contributes to the poor productivity of the UK workforce in general. The AHMS has collected sickness absence records from participating police forces, and linked those data with clinical, lifestyle, genetic and metabolic information on a large sample of Police Force employees. Using this resource, the AHMS offers unique opportunity to gain much greater understanding of the drivers of absenteeism in the Police Force, with potential for substantial health and economic benefit if even a small downward shift in numbers of days absent could be achieved. By identifying and remediating the drivers of the large degree of absenteeism through sickness, there is potential to develop successful interventions targeting the most important modifiable determinants.
d. The AHMS participants have consented to recall into studies by genotype and/or phenotype. The cohort could become a rich source of participants for trials of behavioural and other interventions on mental health and other outcomes, potentially leading to new or improved treatments for these conditions in a work-place setting.
Organisations
- Imperial College London, United Kingdom (Lead Research Organisation)
- University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom (Collaboration)
- UK Biobank, United Kingdom (Collaboration)
- University of Cambridge (Collaboration)
- Home Office, United Kingdom (Collaboration)
- University of Colorado Boulder (Collaboration)
- Massachusetts General Hospital (Collaboration)
- Siemens Healthcare (Collaboration)
- Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC) (Collaboration)
- University of Oxford, United Kingdom (Collaboration)
- Washington University in St. Louis (Collaboration)
- The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (Collaboration)
- Brigham and Women's Hospital (Collaboration)
- MRC Dementias Platform UK (Collaboration)
- University of Glasgow, United Kingdom (Collaboration)
- Police Federation of England and Wales (Collaboration)
- Medical Research Council (Collaboration)
- National Institutes of Health, United States (Collaboration)
- University of Oulu, Finland (Collaboration)
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Collaboration)
- National Cancer Institute (Collaboration)
- Glasgow Royal Infirmary (Collaboration)
- Swansea University, United Kingdom (Collaboration)
- Montreal Heart Institute (Collaboration)
- University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom (Collaboration)
- King's College London, United Kingdom (Collaboration)
- University of Leicester, United Kingdom (Collaboration)
Publications

Bauermeister S
(2020)
The Dementias Platform UK (DPUK) Data Portal.
in European journal of epidemiology

Bentley AR
(2019)
Multi-ancestry genome-wide gene-smoking interaction study of 387,272 individuals identifies new loci associated with serum lipids.
in Nature genetics


Clark DW
(2019)
Associations of autozygosity with a broad range of human phenotypes.
in Nature communications

Climaco Pinto R
(2022)
Finding Correspondence between Metabolomic Features in Untargeted Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Metabolomics Datasets.
in Analytical chemistry

De Las Fuentes L
(2021)
Gene-educational attainment interactions in a multi-ancestry genome-wide meta-analysis identify novel blood pressure loci.
in Molecular psychiatry

Elliott P
(2019)
Use of TETRA personal radios and sickness absence in the Airwave Health Monitoring Study of the British police forces.
in Environmental research

Eriksen R
(2019)
Gene-diet quality interactions on haemoglobin A1c and type 2 diabetes risk: The Airwave Health Monitoring Study.
in Endocrinology, diabetes & metabolism

Eriksen R
(2018)
Nutrient profiling and adherence to components of the UK national dietary guidelines association with metabolic risk factors for CVD and diabetes: Airwave Health Monitoring Study.
in The British journal of nutrition

Erzurumluoglu AM
(2020)
Meta-analysis of up to 622,409 individuals identifies 40 novel smoking behaviour associated genetic loci.
in Molecular psychiatry
Title | People like you: Contemporary Figures of Personalisation |
Description | People Like You' presented an online conversation about Stefanie Posavec's visualisation of the Airwave study and how work like hers can be useful for cohorts and biobanks. As part of our Wellcome Trust Medical Humanities Collaborative award, "People Like You: contemporary figures of personalisation," Stefanie Posavec worked as an artist-in-residence exploring data science and personalisation through visualisation of the Airwave Health Monitoring Study. As a part of this project, the People Like You team invited people who work with research cohorts and biobanks, people who participate in them, and people whose work focuses on these topics to hear a brief presentation of Stefanie's method, reactions from some of those who participated in her practice, and a Q&A discussion about how her work might be useful in other contexts. |
Type Of Art | Artwork |
Year Produced | 2021 |
Impact | Not known |
URL | http://police-health.org.uk/news/stefanie-posavecs-visualisation-airwave-study |
Description | Enhancement of Generation Malawi |
Amount | £216,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | United Kingdom Research and Innovation |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 02/2022 |
End | 03/2022 |
Description | Exploiting genomic approaches to identify the environmental basis of depression |
Amount | £2,530,384 (GBP) |
Funding ID | 220857 |
Organisation | Wellcome Trust |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2021 |
End | 12/2025 |
Description | Exploiting genomic approaches to identify the environmental basis of depression |
Amount | £2,530,384 (GBP) |
Funding ID | 220857/Z/20/Z |
Organisation | Wellcome Trust |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 05/2021 |
End | 05/2026 |
Description | The Airwave Health Monitoring Study (AHMS). An Occupational Cohort Study of the British Police Forces. |
Amount | £1,988,965 (GBP) |
Funding ID | MR/R023484/1 |
Organisation | Medical Research Council (MRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 06/2018 |
End | 06/2023 |
Title | Airwave Health Monitoring Study |
Description | The Airwave Health Monitoring Study was established to evaluate possible health risks associated with the use of TETRA, a digital communication system used by the police forces and other emergency services in Great Britain since 2001. It is a long-term observational study following up the health of the police force with respect to TETRA exposure, and ability to monitor both cancer and non-cancer health outcomes. The Airwave Health Study Tissue Bank completed its recruitment in March 2015, thus establishing a "baseline" for the cohort. We are currently carrying out a programme of re-screening of existing cohort members that were already screened at baseline. |
Type Of Material | Biological samples |
Year Produced | 2015 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | We continue to collaborate with researchers both within Imperial College and external, sharing samples and data from our health screening. From June till December 2019, we completed 1,839 follow-up screens on 1,789 participants. As of 26th Feb 2020, the current number of active members of the Tissue Bank is 53,243, whose mean number of years of membership is 10.3. We have recently used 91 blood samples during the year for DNA extractions and genotyping, work on which is ongoing. More are planned for 2020. |
Description | Airwave & GRAPHIC research collaboration for Airwave study |
Organisation | University of Leicester |
Department | Department of Cardiovascular Sciences |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Participant data from Airwave cohort study |
Collaborator Contribution | Participant data from GRAPHIC cohort study |
Impact | ongoing collaboration |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Airwave - Police Federation of England and Wales |
Organisation | Police Federation of England and Wales |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Scientific conduct of the study and close liaison with the Federation to ensure continuing support for participation |
Collaborator Contribution | Collaboration on the Airwave study steering committee and access committee - lay contribution to these committees and assistance with communication channels to police organisation contacts to improve effectiveness of study implementation. |
Impact | ongoing collaboration |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | Airwave Collaboration with the PGC |
Organisation | Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC) |
Country | Global |
Sector | Learned Society |
PI Contribution | The genetic data from the Airwave cohort is being incorporated into the forthcoming genome-wide association analyses of depression and anxiety disorders, in collaboration with the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC) |
Collaborator Contribution | The PGC will securely store the summary association statistics from Airwave and include it in a genome wide meta-analysis with other studies from around the world. They will also provide genetic risk scores for depression in all Airwave participants, allowing Airwave investigators to assess whether this predicts work place absenteeism and satisfaction in individuals with or without depression. |
Impact | No outputs so far |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Airwave and CARDIA cohorts collaboration on metabolic pathways and blood pressure and body weight index |
Organisation | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Potentially we will contribute data from the Airwave cohort study to the proposed analysis, and expertise in data interpretation. |
Collaborator Contribution | Partner is sourcing funding for the proposed work and will bring data from the CARDIA cohort study to the project and expertise in nutrition and obesity. |
Impact | Data access applied for and grant application written and under consideration. |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Airwave and CCACE - Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology |
Organisation | University of Edinburgh |
Department | MRC Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Data collection, data quality control and analysis and database management |
Collaborator Contribution | Working with to enhancement baseline data collection with addition of questions on mental health and cognition to enable future analysis of work-related stressors |
Impact | ongoing collaboration |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | Airwave and MRC CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit |
Organisation | University of Glasgow |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Provision of Airwave study data and biosamples for analysis |
Collaborator Contribution | Expertise in occupational work exposures and evaluation of work place interventions for health promotion |
Impact | ongoing collaboration |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | Airwave and occupational exposure assessment |
Organisation | University of Manchester |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Airwave study data and biosamples |
Collaborator Contribution | Collaborating with the Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health with expertise in occupational exposure assessment. Obtaining expert advice on the formation and use of a job exposure metrix (JEM) for the study |
Impact | ongoing collaboration |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Airwave collaboration with CIPHER and SAIL databank |
Organisation | Swansea University |
Department | Centre for Improvement in Population Health through E-records Research (CIPHER) |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Airwave study cohort participant data and database and expertise in secure database management |
Collaborator Contribution | Secure data linkage and data hosting in SAIL databank and expertise in processing and storage of electronic health data records |
Impact | ongoing collaboration |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | Airwave collaboration with DPUK - Dementia Platforms UK |
Organisation | University of Oxford |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Collection and provision of Airwave study data. Airwave data collected by the study team is being uploaded into the DPUK data portal so that it is available to other researchers. Collaboration with Prof Gallacher, PI of DPUK on pilot use of data including CSR pilot, collaborative grant applications and publications. |
Collaborator Contribution | DPUK portal coordination and data access procedures |
Impact | ongoing collaboration |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | Airwave collaboration with DPUK - Great Minds pilot study |
Organisation | MRC Dementias Platform UK |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Collaboration with DPUK to invite Airwave study participants to take part in the Great Minds pilot study. Facilitated contact with study participants. |
Collaborator Contribution | Coordination of Great Minds pilot study |
Impact | new collaboration - ongoing |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Airwave collaboration with DPUK and SAIL |
Organisation | Swansea University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Provision of Airwave study data and expertise in database management and health data linkage |
Collaborator Contribution | SAIL Databank is being used as a means of secure data processing and storage for study data |
Impact | ongoing collaboration |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | Airwave collaboration with UK Biobank |
Organisation | UK Biobank |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | We have initiated an amendment to UK Biobank project 4844 to allow Airwave to be linked to UK Biobank using genetic checksums, allowing overlapping individuals to be removed from analyses that utilise both datasets |
Collaborator Contribution | UK Biobank have provided genetic data and information on depression and anxiety to facilitate this collaboration |
Impact | None so far |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Blood cell genetics project |
Organisation | Montreal Heart Institute |
Country | Canada |
Sector | Hospitals |
PI Contribution | Samples and data from Airwave cohort study |
Collaborator Contribution | Conducted meta-analysis including Airwave data |
Impact | Published paper Chen et al 2020 Cell |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Blood cell genetics project |
Organisation | National Institutes of Health (NIH) |
Department | National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) |
Country | United States |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Samples and data from Airwave cohort study |
Collaborator Contribution | Conducted meta-analysis including Airwave data |
Impact | Published paper Chen et al 2020 Cell |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Blood pressure traits project |
Organisation | The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | Samples and data from Airwave cohort study, data provision |
Collaborator Contribution | Conducted genome-wide discovery analysis including the Airwave data |
Impact | Published paper Vuckovic et al Cell 2020 |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Cardiovascular health and Airwave collaboration - Glasgow |
Organisation | Glasgow Royal Infirmary |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Hospitals |
PI Contribution | Contributing data from the Airwave cohort study and ECG trace data |
Collaborator Contribution | Expertise in analysis of ECG trace data and data interpretation in relation to cardiovascular health and wellbeing. |
Impact | ongoing collaboration |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Collaboration with the PGC |
Organisation | Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC) |
Country | Global |
Sector | Learned Society |
PI Contribution | McIntosh and one of the post-doctoral fellows (Adams) have shared data and expertise with the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC). AIRWAVE have contributed genetic and phenotypic data to the next major MDD GWAS update |
Collaborator Contribution | The PGC have supplied analysts and expertise to work on and expand the use of the data collected from Generation Scotland. It is estimated that so far this would amount to one year's worth of post-doctoral research fellow time over the duration of the award |
Impact | All publications with the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium byline authorship are relevant to this contribution. In particular, two publications particularly highlight the value of this work: Wray (Nature Genetics, 2018) and Howard (Nature Neuroscience, 2019). The Edinburgh investigators led the second of these publication, which is in the top 1% of all papers in Nature Neuroscience by citation/download numbers, of a similar date. |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | DPUK data portal pilot study - Airwave |
Organisation | MRC Dementias Platform UK |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Airwave cohort study data is being uploaded into the national DPUK data portal and the study was selected to take part in the pilot launch of the data platform. |
Collaborator Contribution | Facilitated inclusion of the cohort data into the data platform with potential to share anonymised data with research partners. |
Impact | Scientific paper published Baumeister et al Eur J Epidemiol 2020 |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | DPUK data portal pilot study - Airwave |
Organisation | Swansea University |
Department | Swansea University Medical School |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Airwave cohort study data is being uploaded into the national DPUK data portal and the study was selected to take part in the pilot launch of the data platform. |
Collaborator Contribution | Facilitated inclusion of the cohort data into the data platform with potential to share anonymised data with research partners. |
Impact | Scientific paper published Baumeister et al Eur J Epidemiol 2020 |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | DPUK data portal pilot study - Airwave |
Organisation | University of Oxford |
Department | Department of Psychiatry |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Airwave cohort study data is being uploaded into the national DPUK data portal and the study was selected to take part in the pilot launch of the data platform. |
Collaborator Contribution | Facilitated inclusion of the cohort data into the data platform with potential to share anonymised data with research partners. |
Impact | Scientific paper published Baumeister et al Eur J Epidemiol 2020 |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Dietary Intake and Association with Cardiometabolic Risk |
Organisation | King's College London |
Department | Department of Nutrition and Dietetics |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Cohort data curation and analysis, statistical analysis |
Collaborator Contribution | KCL - Analysis of diet diary data for Airwave sample, dietetic expertise; Uni Colorado - study concept and design and data analysis, drafted manuscript; Massachusetts - dietary and nutrient analysis and advice |
Impact | Published paper Hunt et al Nutrients 2020 |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | Dietary Intake and Association with Cardiometabolic Risk |
Organisation | Massachusetts General Hospital |
Department | Center for Genomic Medicine |
Country | United States |
Sector | Hospitals |
PI Contribution | Cohort data curation and analysis, statistical analysis |
Collaborator Contribution | KCL - Analysis of diet diary data for Airwave sample, dietetic expertise; Uni Colorado - study concept and design and data analysis, drafted manuscript; Massachusetts - dietary and nutrient analysis and advice |
Impact | Published paper Hunt et al Nutrients 2020 |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | Dietary Intake and Association with Cardiometabolic Risk |
Organisation | University of Colorado Boulder |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Cohort data curation and analysis, statistical analysis |
Collaborator Contribution | KCL - Analysis of diet diary data for Airwave sample, dietetic expertise; Uni Colorado - study concept and design and data analysis, drafted manuscript; Massachusetts - dietary and nutrient analysis and advice |
Impact | Published paper Hunt et al Nutrients 2020 |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | Gene and educational attainment and BP project |
Organisation | University of Washington |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Airwave cohort samples for genome-wide meta-analysis, data provision |
Collaborator Contribution | Study design and conducted meta-analysis |
Impact | Published paper de las Fuentes et al 2020 Mol Psychiatry |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Gene variants and blood pressure regulation |
Organisation | University of Cambridge |
Department | Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Data and samples from Airwave cohort |
Collaborator Contribution | Carried out discovery meta-analysis to identify genetic variants associated with BP |
Impact | Published paper Surendran et al Nature Genetics 2020 |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Mental health in the police force and Airwave collaboration |
Organisation | King's College London |
Department | King's Centre for Military Health Research |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Data from the Airwave cohort study and epidemiological expertise in data interpretation |
Collaborator Contribution | Expertise in assessment of mental health status and trauma exposure. |
Impact | Scientific paper submitted and under consideration for publication. |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Metabolomic and epigenetic ageing project |
Organisation | University of Oulu |
Department | Biocenter Oulu |
Country | Finland |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Study concept and design, data curation and analysis, AIRWAVE data acquisition, drafted paper |
Collaborator Contribution | Data and metabolomic analysis of NFBC cohort |
Impact | Published paper Robinson O et al. Ageing Cell doi: 10.1111/acel.13149 |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | PTSD, depression and anxiety in police force |
Organisation | King's College London |
Department | King's Centre for Military Health Research |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Epidemiological expertise and data from Airwave cohort |
Collaborator Contribution | Expertise in health effects of mental disorders in military/army cohorts with similar stressors |
Impact | published paper Stevelink et al PLOS One 2020 |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | PhD studentship in sleep and health |
Organisation | Medical Research Council (MRC) |
Department | MRC Social & Public Health Sciences Unit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Joint application for funding and offer of joint PhD student supervision |
Collaborator Contribution | Coordination of joint application for funding and offer of primary PhD student supervision |
Impact | studentship being advertised |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | REACT-Siemens project (COVID-19) |
Organisation | Siemens Healthcare |
Country | Germany |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | We are inviting members of the Airwave cohort living nearby to the assessment centre in London to assess the usability/reliability of novel methods to collect blood and saliva for antibody testing for COVID-19. |
Collaborator Contribution | Provision of laboratory-based SARS-CoV-2 antibody tests |
Impact | active project |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | Sleep and health project |
Organisation | Home Office |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Host of Airwave cohort data and samples - proposal to study sleep patterns, work factors and health; study concept and design |
Collaborator Contribution | Potential call data records from HO and funding for analysis |
Impact | proposal under consideration |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | The Consortium of Metabolomics Studies (COMETS) and Airwave |
Organisation | Brigham and Women's Hospital |
Country | United States |
Sector | Hospitals |
PI Contribution | Contributing data from the Airwave cohort to this consortium of 47+ international cohorts |
Collaborator Contribution | Platform for sharing data to facilitate large-scale collaborative research e.g. meta-analysis and GWAS on the human metabolome |
Impact | Publication Yu et al Am J Epidemiol 2019 https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwz028 . |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | The Consortium of Metabolomics Studies (COMETS) and Airwave |
Organisation | National Cancer Institute |
Country | Lithuania |
Sector | Hospitals |
PI Contribution | Contributing data from the Airwave cohort to this consortium of 47+ international cohorts |
Collaborator Contribution | Platform for sharing data to facilitate large-scale collaborative research e.g. meta-analysis and GWAS on the human metabolome |
Impact | Publication Yu et al Am J Epidemiol 2019 https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwz028 . |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Law Enforcement and Public Health (LEPH) conference |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | On the 21-23rd October 2019, we presented a poster at the Law Enforcement and Public Health (LEPH) conference in Edinburgh, Scotland. This is a biennial conference exploring the complex and diverse intersections of law enforcement and public health, involving practitioners, policy makers and researchers from these and other related sectors. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | British APCO - Presentation |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | In March 2019, our research fellow, Dr He Gao, presented a lay summary of the recent research results of the Airwave Study at BAPCO, "the leading UK based Association for all professionals using or developing Public Safety technology." |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Depression talk to Department of Work and Pensions |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Discussion about depression, its causes and consequences, how it is managed - including how it is managed in the workplace. Discussed the need for more research, giving the Airwave study as an example, and the need to access routinely collected administrative data as part f HDR UK activities such as DATAMIND |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | National Institute for Health research (NIHR) Imperial Research open day |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | To enrich our public engagement activities we took part in the National Institute for Health research (NIHR) Imperial Research open day on the 15th November 2019 at the W12 conferences in Hammersmith Hospital. The aim was to promote meaningful conversations about the work we do to a wide audience consisting of carers, patients, research and healthcare professionals as well as members of the public. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Newsletters to Airwave Health Monitoring Study participants |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
Results and Impact | Jointly with our collaborators at DPUK, we sent a newsletter to all members of the cohort. This highlighted the recently completed research relating to Airwave usage, promoted the revised and expanded research objectives of the Tissue Bank, and provided a channel by which DPUK could explain how they are addressing their dementia-focussed research objectives and how their collaboration with the Airwave Tissue Bank may provide opportunities for joining research studies they are supporting. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Online training presentation for University of Warwick medical students on the REACT 2 COVID-19 study of keyworkers in Airwave cohort |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Online training session to introduce the REACT study and the health screening process to medical students at one of the selected field centres for the REACT 2 study in key workers prior to clinic go live date. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Oral presentation to 5th International Conference on Law Enforcement & Public Health LEPH2019, Edinburgh, Oct 2019 on Airwave Occupational Cohort Study |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Invited oral presentation to biennial national conference with aim of exploring and debating the intersections between law enforcement and public health involves. Audience included practitioners, policy makers and researchers from these and other related sectors. Aims of the study were presented and basic results and plans for future participant involvement. Opportunity to promote the study and engage with police and law enforcement agencies. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://leph2019edinburgh.com/ |
Description | Oral presentation to British APCO annual conference 13 March 2019 on Personal radio use and cancer risks among police officers and staff from the Airwave Health Monitoring Study |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Invited oral presentation by research team member to the British Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (BAPCO) annual meeting to present the aims of the study, how researchers are following up participant data and what the study has found in relation to risks of development of any diseases including cancers (ref: paper recently published in BJC). Airwave is investigating any effect of use of the TETRA radio technology on police officers and staff. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | People Like you; Contemporary Figures of Personalisation - Workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | People Like You' presented an online conversation about Stefanie Posavec's visualisation of the Airwave study and how work like hers can be useful for cohorts and biobanks. As part of our Wellcome Trust Medical Humanities Collaborative award, "People Like You: contemporary figures of personalisation," Stefanie Posavec worked as an artist-in-residence exploring data science and personalisation through visualisation of the Airwave Health Monitoring Study. As a part of this project, the People Like You team invited people who work with research cohorts and biobanks, people who participate in them, and people whose work focuses on these topics to hear a brief presentation of Stefanie's method, reactions from some of those who participated in her practice, and a Q&A discussion about how her work might be useful in other contexts. https://police-health.org.uk/news/stefanie-posavecs-visualisation-airwave-study |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Presentation to 15th Annual Conference of The Metabolomics Society, The Hague, The Netherlands, June 23-27, 2019 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Presented methods and results of work on a metabolomics analysis to identify and characterise metabolomic signatures associated with risk variants for coronary artery disease using samples from MESA, Rotterdam and Airwave cohort studies with the aim of producing new knowledge on the causal pathways linking genes to CVD. a new cross-cohort matching in untargeted metabolomics to generate accurate within-dataset feature matching across multiple cohorts. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | http://metabolomics2019.org/images/2019-Metabolomics_Abstract_9.pdf |