Home Temperatures in Later Life: CARE75+ Study HOTELL Project
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An exploratory mixed-method study of home heating influences and behaviours in frail older people who live alone, and have a history of falls.
IRAS ID
248700
Contact name
Vanessa Powell-Hoyland
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Sheffield Hallam University
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 3 months, 31 days
Research summary
This study aims to find what influences the behaviours in frail older people who live alone, and have a history of falls. The main reason for doing this is to generate understanding of:
i. Why people may be at risk of cold homes and negative health impacts (e.g. falls)
ii. What can be done to identify those at risk, intervene and reduce risk?
Frailty develops because as we get older our bodies change, and can lose their inbuilt reserves, for example we lose
muscle strength. These changes mean that older people with frailty can experience sudden, dramatic changes in their health as a result of seemingly small problems, such as a new medication, or an infection. Frailty is common in older
age, affecting 1 in 4 over 85. Cold homes and associated fuel poverty have a direct impact on health by contributing to cardiovascular and respiratory conditions, poor mental health and well-being and excess winter deaths (EWDs). It is estimated that between 10 and 25 per cent of the 43,900 EWDs which occurred in England and Wales in 2014/15 were attributable to fuel poverty and cold homes. People living in the coldest 25% of homes have a 20% greater risk of dying than those in warm homes (Marmot Review 2011). Older people living on their own with existing illnesses and chronic conditions, poor mobility and in poor quality, harder to heat housing are most vulnerable to dying in winter (Roche 2010). This study will involve older people who live alone who are part of the CAREs 75 court.REC name
North West - Haydock Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/NW/0079
Date of REC Opinion
25 Feb 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion