The CHILL study started in 2018 and has made tremendous progress following our cohort for the last five years. We are now entering an extra year of data collection in 2025.
There are 85 primary schools in London and Luton that took part. All of the children from our cohort who participated in the CHILL study at their primary school have now moved up to secondary school, and we are keen to continue working with secondary schools so that we can continue to follow these children to the end of the study.
Last year, our fourth year of follow up, we carried out data collection with Year 7s and 8s during the school year. The young people continued to receive exciting workshops for Centre of the Cell, including the ‘Air Pollution and the Future’ workshop.
We are grateful to our secondary schools to continue following up on our cohort in this important study. In recognition of any disruption caused and to give something in return, we have offered schools a science workshop, developed and delivered by our dedicated outreach officer, and providing a small payment for participation.
If you have any questions, please contact the team at CHILL@qmul.ac.uk.
What is the CHILL study?Why is this research important?Who is funding this study?Which pupils are eligible to participate?Will my school benefit if it takes part?What kind of data will we be collecting?Who is conducting the CHILL study?How will the results of the study be made available?What will the study involve?Why are we doing the additional assessments?What if parents come to us with questions?We’ve received some late forms/activity monitors after your visits – what do we do?
CHILL is a research study to find out whether reducing air pollution from traffic is good for children’s health. We are particularly interested in whether interventions to reduce air pollution improve the growth of children’s lungs and brains. We are also interested in secondary factors such as children’s respiratory symptoms (like wheezing, sneezing and coughing), economic factors, epigenetics and cognitive function. Finally, we are interested in children’s physical activity levels and how they are impacted due to air pollution.
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Research evidence shows that air pollution from traffic harms children’s health and the development of their lungs and brains. Exposure to air pollution stunts children’s lung growth, increases asthma attacks, infant mortality and early death.
The Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) is a large public health intervention designed with the aim of improving air quality. CHILL is investigating whether this is an effective intervention by studying whether the ULEZ does reduce air pollution and whether this reduction improves childrens health, compared to a control group in Luton.
We are also exploring new methods of studying how pollution effects our bodies, by examining whether exposure to air pollution in childhood can leave markers on genes that reflect pollution levels over time, so we also want to find out if – and how – genes protect against harm from pollution. We are also exploring whether air pollution impacts cognitive function in children.[Top]
The study is funded by the National Institute for Health Research Public Health Research Programme (Project Reference Number 16/139/01).[Top]
Children aged six to nine years old (Years 2, 3 and 4 in the first year of the study 2018/19) were recruited in primary schools in central London's ULEZ area and in primary schools in Luton/Dunstable.[Top]
Your school will get to be part of an important public health research study into the effects of air pollution on children’s health. Children in the classes selected to take part will get to learn about the brain and what air pollution might be doing to it. Children who decide to participate will get a free health check for their lungs and if we find anything wrong, we will write to their GP for follow up. To acknowledge your help and to cover any expenses the school may incur, your school will get £1,000.[Top]
We work with schools annually for four-five years, following up with the same children, to monitor their health and growth. Every year we measure the child’s height and weight, the size of their lungs and how well they are working, ask some questions about how they travel to school and fit an activity monitor that they will wear for seven days. From the second year onwards, we measure cognitive development by asking the child to play some simple games on a tablet computer that measure how the brain is working (eg reaction speed and memory). This is done in a quiet room, in small groups. We also gently take a 'cotton bud' swab from the child’s mouth, to collect some saliva, from which we can analyse markers on genes.
Queen Mary will ensure the research complies fully with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. All individually identifiable data will be dealt with in the strictest confidence. Data will be stored long-term on a secure computer network at Queen Mary.[Top]
The research is led by researchers from the Institute of Population Health Sciences at Queen Mary University of London, King’s College London, the University of Edinburgh, the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, the University of Bedfordshire, St George’s Hospital Medical School and the University of Cambridge.
The work brings together experts from four world-leading research centres: The Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research, the MRC Asthma UK Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma, the MRC PHE Centre in Environment and Health, and the MRC Epidemiology Unit’s Centre for Exercise Diet and Activity Research.
Find out more about our research team based at Queen Mary University of London.[Top]
When the project is completed, we will publish/present the results in academic journals/conferences and present the findings on local and national news outlets, so that other researchers or interested parties can see them. The identity and any personal details of all study participants will be kept confidential. No named information will be published in any works stemming from this project.
During these follow up years for the study, we will repeat the same health check visits. This will include a test of lung function, height and weight, and providing activity monitors to children for a week.
We will also now take a 'cotton bud' swab from the child’s mouth, to collect some saliva samples to allow us to analyse gene markers.
On another day, we will ask the child to play simple games on a tablet computer that measure how the brain is working.[Top]
Air pollution can potentially harm the development of children’s brains, as well as their lungs. We want to find out whether reducing air pollution improves children’s brain development by including cognitive tests in our research.
We also want to find out if air pollution exposure in childhood leaves markers on genes that reflect pollution levels over time, and whether genes can protect against harm from air pollution.
Please do not hesitate to refer parents onwards to us directly with any questions. Similarly, if you have questions yourselves, please do get in touch. We can be contacted on:
chill@qmul.ac.uk; 020 7882 7171 or 020 7882 7172.
If parents provide any forms or monitors after our visit, please get in touch with the researcher your school was in contact with and we will arrange to collect these. If you are unsure of who to contact please email chill@qmul.ac.uk.[Top]