Black Women Have the Highest Maternal Mortality Rate in the United States
Tori-Ann Haywood
This data slice uses data from the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics to describe U.S. maternity mortality rates for women ages 15-45 across different ethnoracial groups between 2018-2022.
February 13, 2024
Are We Accurately Counting the Disabled Population in the United States?
Nastassia Vaitsiakhovich, Scott D. Landes, and Bonnielin K. Swenor
This brief summarizes findings from a recent study that used the 2011-2012 NHIS data to compare the prevalence of the disabled population estimated in the NHIS by using two sets of questions on disability – those from the American Community Survey vs. those from the Washington Group Short Set (WG-SS). Results show that the WG-SS undercounted more than half of adult respondents aged 18 and over who reported being disabled in the ACS questions.
February 6, 2024
Pain Limits Family Caregivers’ Daily Activities
Shelbie G. Turner, Karl A. Pillemer, Jamie R.M. Robinson, and M. Cary Reid
This brief summarizes findings from a recent study that estimated the prevalence of arthritis and activity-limiting pain among family caregivers to older adults. Over half of all caregivers reported bothersome pain in the previous month, 24% of whom had pain that limited their activities on most or every day.
January 30, 2024
Why is Food Insecurity High among U.S. Grandparents who are Caring for Grandchildren?
Madonna Harrington Meyer and Anna Delapaz
This brief draws on interviews with U.S. adults ages 60 and older who are caring for their grandchildren to summarize the factors contributing to food insecurity among grandparents.
January 23, 2024
Asian Americans Experienced Large Increases in Anxiety between 2020 and 2022
Tianqi Zhou
This data slice shows that while Asian adults in the United States have lower average anxiety levels than other ethnoracial groups, they experienced the largest increase in average anxiety between 2020 and 2022.
January 16, 2024
Cognitive Functioning among U.S. Older Adults Differs by Gender and Urbanicity
Elizabeth Lawrence, Samantha John, and Tirth Bhatta
This data slice uses data from the Health Retirement Study to describe how cognitive functioning among adults ages 50+ differed by gender and across urban, suburban, and ex-urban areas in the U.S. from 1999-2016.
January 9, 2024
The Government Must Revise Public Housing Policies to Protect Vulnerable Populations from Evictions
Caroline Grabowski
This brief describes how the Anit-Drug Abuse Act negatively affects housing outcomes among people who use drugs and their families and advocates for an approach that prioritizes the long-term health and wellbeing among public housing tenants.
December 19, 2023
Bridging the Gap: Reducing Disparities in Reproductive Healthcare for Black and White Women
Emma Weiden
This brief summarizes disparities in reproductive healthcare outcomes for Black women compared to White women in the U.S., advocates for policy changes, and provides recommendations for addressing racial disparities to create more equitable reproductive healthcare.
December 12, 2023
Stronger Regulations on Air Pollution Could Reduce Cardiovascular Disease Mortality Rates
Yue Sun
Cutting air pollution to match the World Health Organization’s proposed standards could have prevented over 300,000 cardiovascular disease deaths in 2016-18.
December 5, 2023
Behavioral Science Interventions Could Increase SNAP Comprehension Among Military Families
Colleen Heflin, Hannah Patnaik, Leonard Lopoo, and Siobhan O’Keefe
Making small behavioral science informed changes to SNAP informational flyers increased military & veteran families’ knowledge about benefits & may help to increase SNAP uptake in this population.
November 28, 2023
Renegotiating Support and Benefits for Veterans with Less Than Honorable Discharges
Mariah Brennan and Emily Graham
This brief summarizes the different military discharge types, explains how less than “Honorable” discharges can affect veteran health, identifies groups of veterans who are at risk of receiving a less than “Honorable” discharge, and makes policy recommendations for the Department of Defense (DoD), civilian employers, and community healthcare providers.
November 22, 2023
Sexual Minorities are More Depressed and Anxious than Heterosexuals in the U.S.
Joshua Grove
This data slice uses data from the 2022 National Wellbeing Survey to explore the prevalence of depression and anxiety among U.S. adults ages 18-64.
November 14, 2023
COVID Mortality Rates were Higher in States that Limited Enacting Public Health Emergency Orders
Xue Zhang, Mildred E. Warner, and Gen Meredith
This brief summarizes the results of a study that used data from the Center for Public Health Law Research and Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker to explore which states passed laws that limited emergency public health authority during the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects of those limits on COVID-19 death rates.
August 30, 2023
ACA Medicaid Expansions Did Not Significantly Improve Maternal Morbidity
Pinka Chatterji, Hanna Glenn, Sara Markowitz, and Jennifer Karas Montez
This data slice summarizes findings from a study that tested whether ACA Medicaid expansions helped reduce severe maternal morbidity.
August 30, 2023
Older Adults with a History of Psychiatric Conditions Experience More Cognitive Decline
Maria T. Brown and Miriam Mutambudzi
This data slice explores the associations between psychiatric history and cognitive function among U.S. White, Black, and Hispanic adults aged 65 and older from 1995 to 2014.
July 12, 2023
Democratic Erosion Predicts Rising Deaths from Drug Poisoning and Infectious Disease
Jennifer Karas Montez, Kent Jason G. Cheng, and Jacob M. Grumbach
This brief summarizes a study examining how changes in electoral democracy in the 50 states predicted changes in the risk of death among adults ages 25-64 during 2000-2019.
June 22, 2023
Collegiate Recovery Programs are An Effective But Underused Resource on College Campuses
Emily Graham
This brief explores the barriers to accessing Collegiate Recovery Programs on college campuses and provides recommendations to enhance student engagement and wellbeing.
May 26, 2023
How Did Healthcare Affordability Change for U.S. Adults with ID After Implementing the ACA?
Nastassia Vaitsiakhovich
This brief summarizes the findings from a recent study that examined patterns in healthcare affordability under the ACA or noninstitutionalized adults ages 18-64 with intellectual disabilities.
May 3, 2023
Medicaid-Insured Older Adults on SNAP May Have Stronger Medication Adherence
Colleen Heflin, Chinedum O. Ojinnaka, Irma Arteaga, Leslie Hodges, and Gabriella Alphonso
This brief summarizes the findings from a recent study, which linked Missouri Medicaid administrative claims data to SNAP data from 2006 to 2014.
April 17, 2023
Financial Rewards Tied to Quality Measures Lead Home Health Agencies to Exaggerate Improvements
Jun Li and Meher Chahal
This brief summarizes the results of a recent study evaluating the program’s impact on quality measures within the HHVBP and whether there was a relationship between incentive size and apparent quality.
April 10, 2023