Differences in maternal diagnoses may not be the driver in widely varying Cesarean delivery rates across hospitals

Harvard Pop Center Yerby Fellow Mariana Arcaya, ScD, and faculty member S V Subramanian (Subu), PhD, and colleague have published a study in PLOS Medicine that examines whether the current wide variation in Cesarean section rates across US hospitals is attributable to differences in maternal clinical diagnoses and patient characteristics, or to hospital-level differences in the use of Cesarean delivery. Learn more from this HSPH news post.

Prenatal social adversity associated with high-risk levels of inflammation in adulthood

According to a study co-authored by Harvard Pop Center affiliated faculty members Ichiro Kawachi, MD, PhD, and Laura Kubzansky, PhD, Harvard RWJF HSS Alumna Amy Non, PhD, and colleagues, prenatal social adversity was associated with a 3-fold risk for elevated levels of  C-reactive protein (CRP) in adulthood, which indicates high risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Bell Fellow Ian Salas Co-authors Study on Economic Lifecycle of Average Filipino

Harvard Pop Center Bell Fellow J.M. Ian Salas, PhD, has co-authored a study in the Journal of Economics of Ageing that compares the patterns of consumption, labor income earned, and financing of consumption at different ages or stages of the lifecycle of the average Filipino between the years 1999 and 2007 using the Philippine National Transfer Account (NTA). The findings suggest that there has been an overall increase in per…

Is Juice Gateway Drink to Higher BMI?

Pop Center affiliated faculty members Matthew Gillman, MD, and Elsie Taveras, MD, have published a study in Obesity that examines the significance of beverage consumption during infancy and childhood and found that higher juice intake during infancy (at one year) was associated with higher juice and sugar-sweetened beverage intake and higher BMI during early and mid-childhood. The findings suggest that early juice intake could be a target for obesity prevention,…

Health problems increase risk of Hurricane Katrina survivors living in poor neighborhoods

A study published in PNAS by Pop Center Yerby Fellow Mariana Arcaya, ScD,  Faculty Members S V Subramanian (Subu), PhD, and Mary C. Waters, PhD, and colleague explores health as a determinant of neighborhood attainment (as opposed to the more typical theme of neighborhood effects on health) amongst Hurricane Katrina survivors.

Differentiating between deprivation & threat; a new framework for studying impacts of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)

Former Harvard Pop Center RWJF Alums Margaret Sheridan, PhD, and Kate McLaughlin, PhD, have co-authored a new study in which they introduce a novel way of researching the impacts of ACEs on developmental outcomes by differentiating between two stressors, deprivation and threat.

Study finds multiple-method users of temporary contraceptives more likely to discontinue use & have unintended pregnancy in Uttar Pradesh, India

While female sterilization continues to prevail as the most dominant family planning method provided and used in India, almost one in five contraceptive users in India employs a temporary method. Harvard Pop Center Research Scientist Livia Montana, PhD,  and colleagues have published a study in BMC Public Health that explores the patterns of temporary method use among urban women from Uttar Pradesh, India with the goal of offering programmatic recommendations…

It’s a small world … for homicide victims

RWJF alum Andrew Papachristos  has shown that 41 percent of all gun homicide victims occur within a group that’s 4 percent of the population– or, to put it another way, belonging to that small network of 4 of the population increases your risk of being a homicide victim by 900 percent. Papachristos recently discussed these findings on NPR’s “Morning Edition.”

Do fertility transitions influence infant mortality declines? Study sheds new light

PGDA Fellow Mark McGovern, PhD, has co-authored a study published in the October issue of Journal of Population Economics that presents a new approach to evaluating the relationship between falling rates of infant mortality and fertility reductions.