The Curve building at Teesside University. Academics from Newcastle and Teesside Universities collaborated on the project through Fuse PEOPLE with multiple and complex needs experience severe health inequalities and are more likely to die than the general population, a study has found. Studies carried out by academics from Newcastle and Teesside Universities through Fuse, the Centre for Translational Research in Public Health, found that vulnerable groups had become desensitised to death through suffering vast loss and lack of hope. Groups with high death rates include those struggling with homelessness, drug and alcohol problems, mental health issues, and repeat offending. Deaths were revealed to be almost seven times higher on average for men and twelve times higher for women.