A transdisciplinary team of researchers has been awarded £2.6 million by the Wellcome Trust to investigate why people with psychosis may be particularly vulnerable to rising temperatures and heatwaves.
The team of researchers are from the University of Nottingham, and the National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) in India
The project, HeatMAP – Role of Heat-Related Gut–Microbiota–Brain-Axis Changes in Psychosis, will explore the biological and environmental mechanisms linking extreme heat with the onset, worsening and relapse of psychosis.
HeatMAP is led by Dr Mohammad Zia Ul Haq Katshu, Joint Director of the Centre for Translational Neuroscience for Mental Health at the Institute of Mental Health at the University of Nottingham and Consultant Psychiatrist at Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.
People with psychosis are five times more likely to die in a heatwave, the highest risk compared to any other medical condition. As global temperatures rise, this vulnerability is likely to become an increasingly urgent health challenge. HeatMAP will bring together expertise from climate science, psychiatry, neuroscience, gastroenterology, computational biology and lived experience to understand why this happens and, most importantly, how we can prevent it."
Climate change is increasingly recognised as a major threat to human health. Rising temperatures and more frequent heatwaves are associated with worsening mental health and increased health risks for people living with severe mental illnesses.
People with psychosis appear to be particularly vulnerable, with evidence linking extreme heat to increased hospital admissions and mortality. However, the biological and behavioural mechanisms behind this vulnerability remain poorly understood.
HeatMAP will investigate whether high temperatures affect the gut–brain axis—the two-way relationship between the gut, its microbiota and the brain—and whether these changes contribute to psychosis. The researchers will also examine how people with lived experience of psychosis cope during periods of extreme heat and identify practical strategies that could reduce risk.
The Nottingham and NIMHANS teams will combine climate and environmental data with clinical and behavioural information, molecular profiling, brain imaging and lived experience research.
Studying populations in the UK and India will allow the researchers to examine how heat affects people across different climates, cultures and healthcare systems, helping to identify factors associated with vulnerability and resilience.
The project aims to provide the evidence needed to develop practical, scalable interventions to protect people with psychosis from extreme heat and reduce heat-related mental health crises.
The project is supported by the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Indian Psychiatric Society.
The University of Nottingham research team includes Dr Katshu, Professor Franziska Schrodt, Dr Tanya Monaghan, Professor Dov Stekel, Dr Adam Blanchard, Dr Nicola Wright, Dr Daniel Cocking and Rebecca Woodcock.
The NIMHANS team includes Dr Damodaran Dinakaran, Dr Venkataraman Shivakumar, Dr Vanteemar Sreeraj and Professor Ganesan Venkatasubramanian.
