Population Health Research Brief Series

Monica Deza

This brief summarizes findings from a study that examines how seasonal pollen allergies affect traffic fatalities in the U.S. The authors find that traffic fatalities increase 5.8% on days when the local pollen count is particularly high.

Ali Jones and Marc A. Garcia

This brief highlights Black-White disparities in asthma prevalence and demonstrates how living in unhealthy conditions results in a higher burden of asthma in Black communities.

Shana Kushner Gadarian, Jay J. Van Bavel, Eric Knowles, and Kai Ruggeri

This brief summarizes the impacts of political polarization on public health in the U.S., highlighting the COVID-19 pandemic as a case study on the health risks of polarization. 

Bryce Hruska, Maria L. Pacella-LaBarbara, and Marley S. Barduhn

This data slice shows that EMS personnel at agencies with high-risk PSC levels report 38% more mental illness stigma in the workplace compared to workers at agencies with low-risk PSC levels.

Scott D. Landes, Bonnielin K. Swenor, and Jean P. Hall

This brief summarizes findings from a recent study that shows that, by using the Washington Group Short Set on Functioning (WGSS) questions in the National Health Interview Survey, our federal government is failing to accurately identify the severity of functional limitations specifically related to vision and hearing. 

Nastassia Vaitsiakhovich, Scott D. Landes, and Shannon M. Monnat

This brief summarizes findings from a study that examined differences in happiness and perceived meaning in life between U.S. working-age adults (ages 18-64) with versus without a self-care disability (such as difficulty eating, using the toilet, or dressing without assistance) and the role social support plays in improving happiness and meaning in life.

Catherine García, Lauren L. Brown, and Marc A. Garcia

This brief provides an overview of the social determinants of healthy aging, provides recommendations for how policymakers can improve the socioeconomic, health care, and social, built, and physical environmental conditions that influence healthy aging, and proposes policies that can help the U.S. prepare to better meet the needs of its increasingly diverse older adult population. 

Sierra Kaplan

This brief describes health and aging care service gaps for U.S. older adults, including how Medicare limitations lead to high health care costs, and encourages the federal government to shore up Medicare, long-term care services, and the supply of aging care specialists to better support America’s growing older adult population.

Xue Zhang and Shannon M. Monnat

This brief summarizes the findings from a study that used data from the 2022 National Wellbeing Survey on 7,612 U.S. adults aged 18-64 to identify characteristics of adults who were least likely to get the COVID-19 vaccine and the characteristics associated with different types of vaccine hesitancy.

Katarina A. Sako and Janet M. Wilmoth

This brief presents findings from research that used data from the 2021 Health and Retirement Study to examine differences in health care delays and health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic among a nationally representative sample of U.S. older adults (ages 50+) with versus without cognitive decline. 

Xue Zhang, Danielle Rhubart, and Shannon M. Monnat

This data slice shows that suicide rates among working-age adults in 2016-2019 were significantly lower in counties with more SI, even after accounting for county-level differences in demographic composition (e.g., age, race/ethnicity, education), health care availability, and metropolitan status.

Douglas A. Wolf, Shannon M. Monnat, Jennifer Karas Montez, Emily Wiemers, and Elyse Grossman

This brief summarizes the findings of a paper that used national data to identify how states’ COVID-19 policies affected drug overdose rates among U.S. adults ages 25-64 during the first year of the pandemic.

Emily Graham

This issue brief highlights the shortcomings of veteran transition programs, like TAP, and provides recommendations for improving transition outcomes through more holistic programs.

Julia M. Finan

This brief summarizes the results of a recent study that used data from the 2011-2014 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) to examine educational differences in perceived need for future ADL assistance among 54,946 adults aged 40 to 65 years in the United States. 

Yuwei Zhang, Jun Li, Dongmei Zuo, and Colleen M. Heflin

This brief summarizes findings from a study that examined the associations between state SMD adoption and SNAP participation and benefits from 2004 to 2019.

Danielle Rhubart, Jennifer Kowalkowski, and Yiping Li

This brief uses data from the 2022 Rural Health and Engagement Survey to examine relationships between time spent in bars and heavy drinking. 

Tse-Chuan Yang, Seulki Kim, Stephen A. Matthews, and Carla Shoff

This brief summarizes findings from a study that used data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to examine how county characteristics contributed to the prevalence of OUD among Medicare beneficiaries age 65+ in U.S. counties in 2021.

Mariana Zepeda

This brief summarizes the health risks for communities located near CAFOs. Additionally, it calls for government regulations that improve transparency, management, and consumer empowerment.

Colleen Heflin, William Clay Fannin, Leonard Lopoo, and Siobhan O’Keefe

This brief summarizes findings from a recent study that used data from SNAP offices across 10 states to examine the impact of SNAP interview waivers on SNAP caseloads from January 5th to April 30th of 2021. 

Tse-Chuan Yang, Seulki Kim, Seung-won Emily Choi, Shannon Halloway, Uchechi A. Mitchell, and Benjamin A. Shaw

This brief summarizes findings from a study that aims to understand how U.S. older adults’ (age 65+) exposures to residential neighborhood environments – specifically walkability and concentrated socioeconomic disadvantage – are associated with their cognitive functioning between 2010 and 2018.