The COVID-19 pandemic and associated disruption has had significant impacts on families and children that we have only begun to understand. Our research aims to identify these impacts and how they might be mitigated.
What has our research shown about the impact of COVID-19 in Bradford?
We implemented a protocol that allowed us to adapt our data collection methods and provide rapid intelligence around the impact of the pandemic on health inequalities in Bradford, using mixed quantitative and qualitative methods.
This enabled us to establish that:
- Ethnic minority and financially insecure families had a worse experience during the lockdown across all domains, with the exception of mental health, which appeared worse in White British mothers.
- The number of women reporting clinically important depression and anxiety increased from 11% to 20% and from 10% to 16% (95% CI 8%–11%; 15%–18%), respectively.
- Increases in depression and anxiety were associated with loneliness, financial, food, and housing insecurity; a lack of physical activity; and a poor partner relationship. These findings varied between ethnic groups.
What else can we learn from the COVID-19 pandemic using Bradford data?
We also investigated how vaccines were taken up during the pandemic in over 500 Born in Bradford participants:
- 48% were White British, 37% Pakistani heritage and 15% from other ethnicities
- 46% were from the most deprived quintile of the Index of Multiple Deprivation.
- 29% of respondents did want a vaccine, 10% did not.
- The majority had not thought about it (29%), or were unsure (30%).
- Vaccine hesitancy differed by ethnicity and deprivation: 43% of White British and 60% in the least deprived areas did want a vaccine, compared to 13% of Pakistani heritage and 20% in the most deprived areas.
- Reasons for not wanting a vaccine were commonly explained by confusion and distrust, which was linked to exposure to misinformation.
Other work using Born in Bradford COVID-19 and other longitudinal cohort data found “the substantial deterioration in mental health seen in the UK during the first lockdown did not reverse when lockdown lifted, and a sustained worsening was observed across the pandemic period. Mental health declines have been unequal across the population, with women, those with higher degrees, and those aged 25 to 44 years more affected than other groups.”
What’s next for COVID-19 research in Bradford?
We are currently planning our next phase of BiBBS, which will investigate how COVID-19 affected families and their wellbeing over time, focussing on mothers’ mental health and children’s educational and health outcomes in particular. We also want to look at whether early life interventions have mitigated the effects of COVID-19.
the Better Start Bradford Innovation Hub 